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As memory giants gear up for the next-gen HBM battle, JEDEC has officially released the JESD270-4 HBM4 standard in mid-April. With AI models and HPC workloads demanding faster, larger memory, HBM4 is arriving just right on time.
As per JEDEC’s press release, one of the major improvements in HBM4 is the doubling of independent channels per stack—from 16 in HBM3 to 32. On the capacity front, HBM4 supports 4-high, 8-high, 12-high, and 16-high DRAM stack configurations with 24 Gb or 32 Gb die densities, enabling a maximum cube capacity of 64 GB when using 32 Gb 16-high stacks.
As noted by ZDNet, though the increased stack height of HBM4 had raised concerns about the limits of existing packaging technologies, with JEDEC confirming a relaxed nominal package thickness of 775 micrometers for both 12-high and 16-high stacked HBM4, the immediate need for hybrid bonding has diminished.
Notably, as highlighted by ijiwei, memory leaders like SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron began designing and testing samples as early as 2024, thanks to their involvement in shaping JEDEC’s HBM4 standard. With products expected between 2025 and 2026, now is a good time to check in on their progress.
SK hynix
In March, SK hynix made waves by shipping the world’s first 12-layer HBM4 samples to major customers. As per its press release, the company aims to complete preparations for mass production of 12-layer HBM4 products within 2H25. Wccftech suggests that its 12H HBM4 is set to power NVIDIA’s Rubin and will likely be fabricated using TSMC’s 3nm process.
Meanwhile, according to Digital Today, SK hynix participated in TSMC’s 2025 Technology Symposium in California last week, and introduced its HBM4 12-high and HBM3E 16-high products to the audience. HBM4 12-high is the next-generation HBM capable of processing over 2TB of data per second, the report notes.
The company plans to launch HBM4E in 2026, as per the Korea Economic Daily.
Samsung
On the other hand, Samsung, while phasing out more legacy products like HBM2E, has shifted its focus to HBM3E and HBM4 as well. According to Chosun Biz, industry sources indicate that Samsung’s 4nm logic dies have achieved a test production yield exceeding 40%. As these logic dies are a key component of Samsung’s 12-layer HBM4, the improved yield is expected to accelerate the development of Samsung’s HBM4, the report adds.
Samsung’s HBM4 will hinge on the development of sixth-generation (1c) DRAM, as its 12-layer HBM4 product will integrate this 1c DRAM with the logic die, as per Chosun Biz.
Sedaily indicates that Samsung aims to enter HBM4 mass production within 2025.
Micron
Micron has been ambitious in catching up in the HBM race lately, with a reportedly massive TC bonder order from Hanmi Semiconductor. A per TechNews, Micron shows in its AI memory portfolio that its next-generation HBM4 is expected to enter mass production in 2026, followed by HBM4E in subsequent years, in 2027-2028.
According to Micron, its HBM4 provides a bandwidth increase of over 60% compared to HBM3E.
Like SK hynix, Micron also chooses to team up with TSMC on customized based dies, and it confirmed that development of HBM4E products is progressing smoothly, with several customers already involved, as per Tom’s Hardware.
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(Photo credit: SK hynix)
