SK Hynix leads high bandwidth memory market as AI demand grows

SK Hynix accounted for 50% of global high bandwidth memory (HBM) revenue as of the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, nearly matching Samsung and Micron combined. Early investments in advanced packaging and manufacturing helped establish its leadership. HBM enables AI accelerators to access large quantities of information quickly, making it essential for training generative AI models.

The company began mass shipments of HBM4 during the second quarter while continuing development of its next-generation HBM4E products. Increasingly demanding requirements for speed, efficiency and workload capacity encourage closer collaboration between memory producers and chip designers such as Nvidia, potentially strengthening SK Hynix’s customer relationships.

Demand could also broaden beyond Nvidia’s GPUs as Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, OpenAI and Anthropic develop custom chips. That expansion could help SK Hynix diversify across computing architectures. Memory manufacturing remains exposed to boom-and-bust cycles as production growth can eventually depress prices and margins. Against that risk, SK Hynix combines a leading market position and advancing technology with a forward price-to-earnings valuation described as relatively modest.