Nvidia clears Samsung’s HBM3 chips for use in China-market processor, sources say
- Nvidia’s approval of Samsung’s HBM3 chips comes amid soaring demand for sophisticated GPUs created by the generative AI boom
Samsung Electronics’ fourth-generation high bandwidth memory, or HBM3 chips, have been cleared by Nvidia for use in its processors for the first time, three people briefed on the matter said.
But it is somewhat of a muted greenlight as Samsung’s HBM3 chips will, for now, only be used in a less sophisticated Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU), the H20, which has been developed for the Chinese market in compliance with US export controls, the people said.
It was not immediately clear if Nvidia would use Samsung’s HBM3 chips in its other AI processors or if the chips would have to pass additional tests before that could happen, they added.
Samsung has also yet to meet Nvidia’s standards for fifth-generation HBM3E chips and testing of those chips is continuing, the people added, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to media.
Nvidia and Samsung declined to comment.
HBM is a type of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) standard first produced in 2013 in which chips are vertically stacked to save space and reduce power consumption. A key component of GPUs for artificial intelligence, it helps process massive amounts of data produced by complex applications.