SK Hynix Said to Send HBM4E Samples Early, Shipping as Soon as This Month; Shares Surge 7% to Lead Korean Stocks

TradingKey - On June 14, Eastern Time, industry sources previously revealed that SK Hynix is prepared to provide samples of its seventh-generation HBM4E to major customers, with shipments expected as early as this month and no later than next month. This progress is ahead of the "second half delivery" timeline previously proposed by the company during its first-quarter earnings call.

Two weeks ago, SK Hynix publicly showcased its 12-layer stacked 48GB HBM4E product at Computex 2026. The sample features a single-stack data transfer bandwidth of 4.0 TB/s, a 38% increase over the previous generation, and a 33% increase in individual die capacity. Its DRAM core chip utilizes a 1c-nanometer process, while the base die is manufactured by TSMC using a 3-nanometer process, primarily targeting large-scale model training, generative AI, and high-performance computing scenarios.

During the exhibition, Nvidia ( NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang paid a special visit to the SK Hynix booth and left a message on an HBM4E wafer saying, "Please produce more." SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated at the event, "As long as the customers are ready, we are ready at any time."

Prior to SK Hynix signaling its sample delivery, Samsung Electronics took the lead on May 29 by delivering its first batch of 12-layer 48GB HBM4E samples to global customers, gaining an early advantage in timing.

TrendForce predicts that by 2027, HBM4E will account for 40% of overall HBM demand. Industry insiders pointed out that for HBM products, while performance is critical, shipment pace and customer certification progress equally determine the market landscape; the competition between Samsung and SK Hynix is set to further intensify in the second half of this year.

In secondary markets, Japanese and South Korean stocks rose across the board today. As of press time, SK Hynix shares were trading at 2.3 million KRW, up 150,000 KRW or approximately 7% from the previous trading day, leading the gains in the South Korean KOSPI index. Samsung Electronics rose concurrently by 5.35%, with the two memory giants driving the KOSPI up by more than 5%.

[Source: TradingView]

This rally is supported on one hand by fundamentals as SK Hynix's sampling progress exceeded expectations, and on the other by macro sentiment boosted by a peace agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran, with easing geopolitical tensions lifting risk appetite for global tech stocks.

The current HBM market is dominated by the "Big Three": SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron ( MU ). Given that HBM4E is scheduled for official mass production next year, and customer testing, validation, and optimization processes must be completed in the second half of this year, the current sampling timeline is already quite tight.