[News] Samsung to Benefit from NVIDIA’s Reported Blackwell Delay as Tech Giants Turn to AMD

As AI giant NVIDIA is said to delay its upcoming Blackwell series chips for months, which are now expected to hit the market around early 2025, the related semiconductor supply chain is experiencing a reshuffle. According to a report by the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung Electronics, which is eager to expand its market share for HBM3 and HBM3e, is likely to emerge as a major beneficiary in addition to AMD.

In March, NVIDIA introduced the Blackwell series, claiming it could enable customers to build and operate real-time generative AI on trillion-parameter large language models at up to 25 times less cost and energy consumption compared to its predecessor.

However, according to The Information, last week, NVIDIA informed major customers, including Google and Microsoft, that the shipments of its Blackwell AI accelerator would be delayed by at least three months due to design flaws.

Blackwell Delayed Potentially due to Design Flaws and TSMC’s Capacity Constraints

Tech media Overclocking points out that the defect is related to the part connecting the two GPUs, and creates problems for NVIDIA’s dual GPU versions, including the B200 and the GB200.

The delay has prompted tech companies to look for alternatives from NVIDIA’s competitors, such as AMD, according to the Korea Economic Daily. Microsoft and Google have already been working on next-generation products with AMD. For instance, Microsoft has purchased the MI300X, an AI accelerator from the US fabless semiconductor designer, the report says.

Samsung to Benefit thanks to the Collaboration with AMD

Samsung, as its HBM3 received AMD MI300 series certification in 1Q24, and is likely to provide HBM3e chips to AMD afterwards, is expected to benefit. Citing a semiconductor industry source, the Korea Economic Daily notes that as it is very risky for a single company to dominate the AI chip supply chain, the situation will create opportunities for Samsung and AMD.

It is also worth noting that Samsung’s HBM3 has passed NVIDIA’s qualification earlier, and would be used in the AI giant’s H20, which has been developed for the Chinese market in compliance with U.S. export controls.

According to TrendForce’s forecast in mid-July, the shipment share of AI servers equipped with self-developed ASIC chips in 2024 is expected to exceed 25%, while NVIDIA owning the lion’s share of 63.6%. AMD’s market share, on the other hand, is projected to reach 8.1% in 2024.

Read more

• [News] Foxconn Remains Unfazed Despite NVIDIA’s GB200 Delay, with Customers Aim to Secure Their Orders
• [News] Samsung’s 8-layer HBM3e to Start Mass Production in Q3, Driving HBM Sales to Soar 3-5 Times in 2H24

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)