SK Hynix Forecasts AI Memory Market to Grow 30% Annually to 2030

A senior executive at SK Hynix, a major South Korean semiconductor company, has projected that the market for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips—a specialized form of memory for artificial intelligence—will grow at a rate of 30% annually until 2030. This optimistic forecast, shared in an interview with Reuters, comes amidst a strategic shift in the memory business from a commodity-based model to one centered on custom, high-performance solutions.


According to Choi Joon-yong, the head of HBM business planning at SK Hynix, this growth is being fueled by strong and consistent demand for AI from end-users, and a direct correlation exists between AI infrastructure investments and the purchase of HBM chips. He noted that major cloud computing companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are expected to revise their already substantial AI capital spending upwards, which will further boost demand for HBM.

The forecast also highlights a significant technological shift. The next generation of HBM, known as HBM4, will feature a "customer-specific base die," a central control layer that can be tailored to a client's specific AI architecture. This move toward customization not only enhances performance but also makes it more difficult for customers to switch suppliers, strengthening long-term relationships between chipmakers and their clients. SK Hynix, which is currently the main HBM supplier for Nvidia, anticipates that the market for these customized HBM products will grow to tens of billions of dollars by 2030.



The company's confident outlook comes even as some competitors, like Samsung, have expressed concerns about a short-term supply glut of current-generation HBM chips. SK Hynix, however, believes that the arrival of HBM4 and the growing trend of customization will offset any temporary market imbalances.