Discussing on its focus on AI, TSMC confirmed it has worked with Samsung and others on HBM technology for over two years, refuting claims of an exclusive partnership.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) disclosed on Friday that it has been working with various memory chip producers, including Samsung Electronics for over two years on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) solutions used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
This disclosure refuted South Korean media’s speculations about an ‘unprecedented’ partnership with Samsung. With Samsung and TSMC competing for a larger share of the foundry market, any potential collaboration between these industry giants would attract attention from investors and analysts.
HBM technology stacks memory chips vertically to enhance data transfer speeds and bandwidth, reducing data travel distance. It is ideal for high-performance tasks like AI and HPC due to its high throughput and lower power consumption.
According to a report by BusinessKorea, TSMC and Samsung are jointly developing buffer-less HBM, with plans for HBM4 production set to begin in the second half of next year, as stated by TSMC’s Ecosystem and Alliance Management head Dan Kochpatcharin.
This development, however, contrasts with TSMC’s 2022 announcement, which mentioned Samsung Memory as a member of the open innovation platform (OIP) 3DFabric alliance, along with other key players like Micron Technologies and SK Hynix. TSMC established the alliance to drive advancements in HBM technology.
TSMC further emphasised its ongoing partnerships with memory partners such as Micron, Samsung Memory, and SK Hynix, focusing on advancing 3D integrated circuit (IC) designs to increase memory capacity.
Being one of the largest global foundry service providers, TSMC stated that these collaborations aim to offer designers a comprehensive range of solutions to meet the growing demands of AI.
