The South Korean chipmaker said on Thursday that the new chips are already being delivered, though it did not name customers. 

This comes as demand for high-bandwidth memory steeply increases, driven by the global build-out of data centres used to train and run advanced artificial intelligence systems.

HBM is a form of dynamic random-access memory designed to handle very large volumes of data at high speed. It has become an essential component in modern AI processors. 

Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker by revenue, has struggled in recent years to keep pace with competitors in earlier generations of the technology.

The company said its HBM4 chips provide a consistent processing speed of 11.7 gigabits per second, about 22% faster than the previous HBM3E version. It added that the chips can reach a maximum speed of 13 gigabits per second, easing data bottlenecks as workloads grow heavier.

Samsung also said it plans to provide samples of its next version, HBM4E, in the second half of the year.

Sources say Samsung began mass production and shipments of HBM4 chips in February 2026, with Nvidia graphics processors among the key targets.

Those chips are expected to power Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin AI accelerator platform, due for launch in the second half of the year.

The HBM4 chips are built on a 4-nanometre logic process and offer capacities between 24 and 36 gigabytes, with plans to scale up to 48 gigabytes. 

Samsung says the new generation delivers up to 3 terabytes per second of bandwidth per stack, roughly 2.4 times that of HBM3E, alongside a 40% improvement in power efficiency and better thermal control.

Competition in the market is getting tighter. SK Hynix said in January that it aims to maintain its “overwhelming” market share in next-generation HBM4 chips, which it said were already in volume production. 

The company added that it plans to achieve production yields for HBM4 in line with those of HBM3E.

Micron has also moved early. The company’s chief financial officer said it is in high-volume production of HBM4 and has begun shipping the chips to customers.

Samsung’s new focus underlines a catch-up initiative after falling behind in earlier HBM cycles. Investors welcomed the update. Samsung shares ended the day up 6.4%.

Memory bandwidth has become just as important as processing power in modern data centres, and demand is not falling behind. Companies are expanding AI capacity worldwide.

Samsung said the share buyback will occur on the stock market between January 8 and April 7, 2026, with the repurchased shares to be held as treasury stock and allocated to performance-linked incentive programmes.

The scheme, first introduced in October 2025, is designed to tie compensation directly to company performance. In offering stock-based rewards, Samsung hopes to retain top engineers and executives as competition for advanced AI memory chips increases.

The company is preparing production of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM, both essential for next-generation AI applications.

Memory chip prices are currently surging. DDR5 DRAM costs jumped 314% year-on-year in Q4 2025, and analysts expect another 55–60% rise in DRAM contract prices during the first quarter of 2026. 

Competitors, including SK Hynix and Micron, have already secured substantial supply deals with Nvidia, strengthening the stakes in the global AI chip race.

Analysts in the industry interpret the Samsung share buyback as a sign of confidence in the company’s profit outlook. Projections show the company could exceed 100 trillion won in operating profit for 2026, more than double its 2025 figures. 

The programme is also likely to bolster Samsung’s share price, which surged 125% in 2025, its largest annual profit in 26 years.

The company is expected to report a fourth-quarter operating profit of about 16.9 trillion won for the October–December period, according to analyst estimates compiled by LSEG. 

That figure would represent a jump of roughly 160% from a year earlier and place Samsung within touching distance of its 2018 peak, when the memory market last experienced a major price cycle.

What has changed is not just demand, but the structure of it. With manufacturers focusing capacity towards advanced chips for data centres, output of conventional memory has tightened. Prices have responded with unusual force. 

TrendForce data shows DDR5 DRAM prices climbed 314% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, while contract prices for standard DRAM are forecast to rise another 55% to 60% in the first quarter of this year.

That dynamic plays directly into Samsung’s hands. The company is heavily exposed to conventional DRAM, a segment that many rivals had begun to treat as mature. 

“As conventional DRAM prices continue to surge, Samsung – whose production capacity is largely concentrated in this segment – stands to gain relatively more from the current price upcycle,” TrendForce analyst Avril Wu said.

This quarter goes beyond a one-off rebound. Just over a year ago, Samsung’s leadership was apologising publicly for weak performance as it fell behind SK Hynix in supplying high-bandwidth memory to Nvidia. 

Today, the tone is different. On Friday, executive chairman Jun Young-hyun told investors that customers had described Samsung’s next-generation HBM4 chips by saying, “Samsung is back.”

The competitive backdrop explains why that is important. SK Hynix completed what it described as world-first HBM4 development in September 2025, doubling bandwidth and cutting power use by 40%. 

By the end of last year, it had already sold out its entire 2026 supply to Nvidia. Micron, meanwhile, has told investors that tight memory conditions could last beyond 2026, with chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra warning that the company expects to meet only half to two-thirds of demand from several major customers.

At CES 2026, chipmaker Nvidia unveiled its Vera Rubin platform, confirming that the next generation of its systems will rely on HBM4 memory. Nvidia said the Vera Rubin architecture is in full production and on track for launch later this year, underlining how critical reliable HBM supply has become.

Samsung’s expected profit surge shows this bigger change. Some analysts have already lifted their fourth-quarter forecasts above 20 trillion won, betting that price momentum in traditional memory has been underestimated. 

Looking further ahead, market forecasts reveal Samsung’s operating profit could exceed 100 trillion won this year, more than double last year’s level, if pricing remains firm.

Investors have largely embraced the turnaround. Samsung shares rose 125% last year, their strongest annual gain in 26 years, although they dipped 2.1% in early Tuesday trading as the wider market paused after a rally.

Risks have not disappeared. Lee Min-hee of BNK Investment & Securities cautioned that higher chip prices could cool demand for consumer devices and flagged “risks of a demand slowdown” as data centres rely more on debt to fund expansion. 

Samsung itself has acknowledged the limitations on its mobile business, where rising component costs are squeezing margins. “As this situation is unprecedented, no company is immune to its impact,” co-chief executive TM Roh said, adding that the fallout looks “inevitable”.

Even so, a memory market once dismissed as cyclical has become essential to the next phase of global computing. 

Analysts expect the South Korean tech giant to post an operating profit of 6.3 trillion won ($4.62 billion) for the April-June period, a steep 39% drop in Samsung Q2 profit, compared to the same quarter last year.

The second-quarter performance, if confirmed, would be Samsung’s lowest profit in a year and a half. It also worsens concerns about the company’s capacity to compete in the accelerating AI hardware space, where rivals like SK Hynix and Micron are gaining ground.

While Samsung has pushed aggressively to position its HBM3E chips at the heart of next-generation AI systems, execution has stumbled. 

Its 12-layer HBM3E stacks reportedly passed Nvidia’s bare-die tests but are still awaiting full-package certification. Meanwhile, both SK Hynix and Micron have already begun large-scale shipments of certified HBM3E chips to Nvidia, securing a head start in the booming AI memory market.

“HBM revenue likely remained flat in the second quarter, as China sales restrictions persist and Samsung has yet to begin supplying its HBM3E 12-high chips to Nvidia,” said Ryu Young-ho, senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities. He added that significant shipments to Nvidia this year are unlikely.

Samsung’s situation is further complicated by its exposure to China, which accounts for roughly 20% of its HBM sales. U.S. export restrictions on advanced chips have disrupted those flows, and more hurdles could be on the way. 

Washington is reportedly weighing the revocation of technology authorisations that allow companies like Samsung to receive American chipmaking tools at their Chinese plants.

That risk of regulatory tightening is making investors doubtful, particularly with the added threat of proposed U.S. tariffs, up to 25% on non-U.S.-made smartphones. 

Analysts warn the current surge in Samsung smartphone sales, driven by pre-tariff stockpiling in the U.S., may not last. If tariffs are enforced in the second half of 2025, demand for premium models like the Galaxy S25 and Z Fold 7 could slow sharply.

In the face of these challenges, Samsung has begun supplying its 36GB 12-layer HBM3E stacks to AMD. The U.S. chipmaker confirmed in June that its MI350 AI accelerators will integrate Samsung’s memory chips, an encouraging sign, but not enough to offset Nvidia-related delays.

Investors have taken notice. Despite a 19% rise in Samsung shares this year, the company is still the worst-performing major memory chip stock of 2025. The KOSPI index has climbed 27.3% over the same period, leaving Samsung trailing behind.

As of Monday morning in Seoul, Samsung Electronics shares were down nearly 2%, underperforming the market yet again.

As we await the official release of Samsung Q2 profit, the company has not commented on whether its chips have passed Nvidia’s certification process. The company’s silence, combined with ongoing delays and regulatory risks, has increased doubts about its competitiveness in a market where being first, and fast, matters more than ever.