Samsung Foundry shifts SF4 capacity toward HBM4 base dies

Korean media report that Samsung Foundry is allocating a large share of its SF4 manufacturing resources to HBM4 base die production. Samsung is making the HBM4 base die on a 4 nm node, with that work reportedly receiving half of the entire manufacturing capacity of the 4 nm node.

Demand is being driven by customers for HBM4 and the upcoming HBM4E memory standards, who increasingly want base dies configured with custom logic. Those additions could include memory controllers and PHYs placed directly on the HBM base die, reducing the area those components would otherwise occupy on the main compute chiplet.

Samsung operates SF4 manufacturing at Pyeongtaek Campus 2 (P2) and Campus 3 (P3) on lines S5 and S6. The expected increase in output covers ASIC designs for external customers as well as HBM4 base dies, a priority for ASIC customers seeking higher design performance.