Samsung reportedly turns to TSMC for NVHBM base dies

Samsung is reportedly collaborating with TSMC to secure base dies for NVIDIA’s newly announced NVHBM memory standard. The arrangement reflects a manufacturing requirement: NVIDIA’s base die must use TSMC’s 3 nm node because its IP is optimized for TSMC’s processes. Samsung has its own 3 nm production lines, but those would not meet the requirement.

NVHBM builds on standard HBM architecture by customizing the base die and integrating the controller into the 3D HBM stack. Compared with standard HBM4E, NVIDIA claims up to 30% more memory bandwidth, 15% lower HBM power consumption, and up to 25% more usable compute die area on the processing unit.

TSMC’s role would be limited to the base die, which integrates directly next to the compute tiles. Samsung would continue manufacturing the memory using its sixth-generation 10 nm processes, keeping that portion of production in-house rather than shifting the entire stack to TSMC.