Samsung and SK Hynix Delay Hybrid‑Bonding HBM to 2029‑2030

South Korean memory makers Samsung and SK Hynix have announced that the mass‑production schedule for hybrid‑bonding high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) will be pushed back. Samsung expects large‑scale hybrid‑bonding HBM production only in 2029‑2030, timed to coincide with NVIDIA’s upcoming Feynman AI GPU platform. SK Hynix also decided not to adopt hybrid bonding for the current HBM4 generation, opting to wait until the HBM4E or later generations.

The shift follows JEDEC’s recent relaxation of HBM packaging height limits, which reduces the immediate need for hybrid bonding’s height‑saving advantage. Both companies are instead focusing on alternative thermal solutions—Samsung’s HPB heat‑pipe technology and SK Hynix’s iHBM embedded silicon thermal paths. NVIDIA’s slower demand for higher‑stack HBM also lessens pressure on memory vendors.

The delay impacts the semiconductor equipment market: firms that supply traditional thermal‑press bonding tools stand to gain, while hybrid‑bonding equipment makers such as BESI and emerging Chinese suppliers see order visibility pushed out by several years.