Korea-China HBM Gap Narrows to Three Years - Seoul Economic Daily

Recent reports indicate that the technology gap between South Korea and China in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) has narrowed to approximately three years. China has launched an 'HBM all-out mobilization ... Read original →

The narrowing HBM gap reflects China's forced breakthrough amid the AI compute arms race. Though CXMT still trails in HBM3 yields, its rapid 12-inch wafer capacity expansion—now 14% of global supply—exerts structural pressure on Samsung and SK hynix. Technologically, HBM is deeply entangled with advanced packaging, 3nm logic, and EUV; without access to critical tools, China will likely hit a wall at HBM4. Compliance risks are escalating: the U.S. may tighten EDA/IP export controls on HBM-related tech, forcing NVIDIA to reassess supply chain security. Korean firms will likely accelerate HBM4 ramp-up, lock in U.S. AI chipmakers, and raise technical barriers on secondary products like LPDDR5X to delay Chinese substitution. Over the next 18 months, HBM will become the epicenter of tech geopolitics—where ecosystem control, not just capacity, defines dominance.