SK hynix, TSMC Join Hands for AI Chip Business

SK hynix Inc. has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to become a major player in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip industry. The new deal will bolster the companies’ partnership in the semiconductor business.

Formation of One Team

As per Pulse News, SK hynix and TSMC’s AI chip collaboration is being seen as a move to show a united front against their rival, Samsung Electronics Co. As part of the deal, the South Korean chipmaker launched the “One Team Strategy” with its Taiwan-based partner.

SK Hynix and TSMC will also collaborate to develop the sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) called HBM4. The former is a leading player in the HBM industry, and the latter is the largest chip foundry in the world. Thus, there are high hopes for this new cooperation amid the increasing popularity of AI.

“The collaboration between SK hynix and TSMC is expected to be a driving force in the growing AI semiconductor market,” Ahn Ki Hyun, the executive director of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, commented.

Strategic Plan for AI Chip

The strategic team-up aims to combine the positions and respective expertise of the companies in the AI chip market. SK hynix and TSMC are expanding their presence and influence in their specific markets by merging their technical prowess in the next-generation AI chip packaging.

Meanwhile, Business Korea reported that this partnership is expected to commence with TSMC managing some of the processes for the HBM4.

“The importance of packaging in next-generation AI semiconductors is increasing,” an official in the chip industry said. “The cooperation between these two leading companies will have a significant impact.”

An analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities, Kwak Min Jeong, also said via Korea’s Digital Daily, “In the future, SK Hynix will be responsible for packaging and production centered on HBM through the Indiana fab and TSMC will carry out the CoWoS packaging process including GPU at the Arizona fab, and then supply it to US hyperscaler companies.”

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