SK Group chairman, TSMC chief discuss chip partnership

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won recently visited Taiwan to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) CEO C.C. Wei and other industry officials.

The meeting, held earlier this week, focused on potential collaboration in the semiconductor sector, particularly in AI and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technology.

Chey’s visit follows a strategic partnership established between SK hynix, SK Group’s semiconductor arm, and TSMC in April 2024.

The partnership aims to enhance HBM production and advanced packaging capabilities.

🔗 Source: Yonhap

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ HBM technology has become the critical strategic battleground in AI chip competition

The SK-TSMC partnership highlights how High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) has emerged as the linchpin technology in the AI semiconductor race.

SK hynix currently holds over 50% of the global HBM market, making it an essential supplier for AI hardware leaders like NVIDIA 1.

HBM’s unique architecture enables processing data at speeds equivalent to transferring 230 full HD movies per second, addressing the memory bandwidth limitations that would otherwise throttle AI performance 2.

The global demand for HBM is projected to grow at an annual rate of 82% through 2027, driven by increasingly complex AI models that require exponentially more computing power and memory bandwidth 2.

This explains why the TSMC-SK hynix partnership is strategically crucial. TSMC manufactures the advanced GPUs, while SK hynix provides the specialized memory these processors need to function at peak efficiency for AI workloads 1.

The April 2024 strategic partnership specifically targets bolstering capabilities in HBM production and advanced packaging technologies, which are critical to maintaining technological leadership in AI hardware.

2️⃣ Shifting competitive dynamics reshape South Korea’s semiconductor landscape

The meeting between SK’s chairman and TSMC occurs against a backdrop of intensifying competition between South Korea’s two semiconductor giants.

While Samsung has historically dominated with approximately 43% of the global DRAM market compared to SK hynix’s 28%, the competitive gap is narrowing significantly 3.