NVIDIA Spends Big On HBM3E Memory Purchases For Upcoming Hopper H200 & Blackwell B100 AI GPUs

wccftech.com:

NVIDIA has spent big money on HBM3E memory as it tries to secure enough stock for its next-gen Hopper H200 & Blackwell B100 AI GPUs.

Korean media, Biz.Chosun, has disclosed that NVIDIA has placed orders for huge stocks of HBM3E memory from the likes of SK hynix and Micron, to prepare for its next-gen products that are targeted toward the AI segment. This approach restricts access for other companies, either rendering them unable to obtain the resources or limiting their access to them.

Korean media states that NVIDIA has prepaid around 700 billion to 1 trillion won for HBM3E memory, which is a varied figure, but we expect that the actual amount is near the trillion won mark, considering the huge demand from the industry. That's around $775 Million US for the pre-payments alone with the actual figure likely exceeding a Billion US dollars.

According to the industry on the 26th, SK Hynix and Micron are known to have each received between 700 billion and 1 trillion won in advance payments from Nvidia to supply cutting-edge memory products.

NVIDIA's large advance payment led to investment actions by memory semiconductor companies that were struggling to expand HBM production capacity. In particular, SK Hynix, the largest supplier, is known to be planning to invest the advance payment received from NVIDIA intensively in expanding TSV facilities, which are holding back HBM production capacity. This is evidenced by the fact that work related to the establishment of a new TSV line was carried out smoothly in the third quarter of last year. Likewise, Micron's investment in TSV facilities is expected to receive a boost.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is also known to have recently completed HBM3 and HBM3E product suitability tests