SK Hynix s bid for NVIDIA s HBM4 surges by 5%, Micron s stock price soars

Korean media reported that SK Hynix has decided to increase the price of supplying NVIDIA Corp.'s sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory "HBM4" by more than 50%. The news spurred US memory giant Micron Technology, Inc. to soar.

"Business Korea" reported on the 5th that SK Hynix delivered the world's first 12-layer stacked HBM4 sample to NVIDIA in March this year. After receiving positive reviews, it immediately provided the first batch of goods in June. At the same time, SK Hynix began negotiating HBM4 quotations to supply NVIDIA’s next-generation AI chip “Rubin”. Rubin series chips are scheduled to be released in the second half of next year (2026).

The negotiation process between the two parties was not smooth. HBM4 has up to 2,048 data transmission channels (I/O), twice that of HBM3E. Not only that, HBM4 introduces a logic process into the base die that connects the graphics processor (GPU) and HBM to improve computing efficiency and energy management. For this reason, SK Hynix decided to entrust TSMC with foundry basic die for the first time.

Taking into account the high cost of HBM4 technology upgrade, SK Hynix’s quotation for NVIDIA is around US$540~560 per unit, which is more than 50% higher than the previous generation product. At that time, NVIDIA considered that its competitors Samsung Electronics and Micron would also mass-produce HBM4 and was unwilling to accept such a high offer, so the two sides were in a stalemate.

However, the final supply price was set at approximately US$560 per HBM4 based on SK Hynix’s proposal, which allowed SK Hynix to maintain its market dominance. An SK Hynix executive said that he "cannot confirm the final supply price and negotiation details", but "taking into account the improvement of the manufacturing process and the cost of investment, HBM4 does have a reasonable basis for a substantial price increase."

According to the financial investment industry, SK hynix recently held a briefing for institutional investors after completing quotation negotiations, and it is predicted that operating profit margins will continue to remain at a high level next year. SK Hynix revealed at the time that the quotation and supply of products that meet NVIDIA specifications have been confirmed, and current operating profits are expected to remain unchanged. This means that even if Samsung and Micron will enter the HBM4 market, the company's profits and performance will not be negatively impacted.

Micron surged 8.93% after hearing the news on the 5th, closing at US$237.50, setting a record closing high, ranking the highest among the 30 constituent stocks of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index; it has soared 182.2% so far this year. NVIDIA and TSMC ADR ended the 5th day down by 1.75% and 0.14% respectively.