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Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron Fail to Get DRAM Antitrust Suit Dismissed

The class-action lawsuit accusing Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron of restricting DRAM supply is moving forward. On November 14, U.S. District Judge Noël Wise of the Northern District of California denied the three companies' joint motion to dismiss, finding the complaint plausibly alleges an agreement in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The suit, filed in June by 17 consumers and small businesses, claims the trio, which held over 91% of global DRAM revenue as of Q3 2025, coordinated production cuts starting in late 2022 and shifted capacity toward HBM while conventional DRAM prices rose 697% over 18 months. Of course, it's a pleading-stage ruling, and nothing has been proven yet.

The companies argued the case was a rerun of an earlier suit over 2016 to 2018 supply cuts, which the Ninth Circuit threw out in 2022. Judge Wise disagreed, pointing to newer alleged conduct like long-term HBM contracts, Samsung and SK hynix allegedly refusing long-term deals with conventional DRAM buyers, Micron shutting down Crucial, and near-identical customer vetting questions all three adopted in January 2026. She also turned the companies' own hawk comparison around, writing that the alleged conduct is more like "hawks flying in formation."

Terafab Wants to Become One of the Largest Memory Makers by 2032

According to Nikkei, a procurement team from Terafab, the chip venture between Tesla and SpaceX, visited Japan and walked local equipment makers through what it plans to buy. The targets it reportedly shared are gigantic: 1 million wafers per month from 2032 onward, with around 700,000 of those going to memory chips and 300,000 to logic. Nikkei's headline puts that at 40 times the output of Japan's Rapidus. The same split first surfaced in a Jiji Press report last month, which said a single Texas plant would handle both memory and logic, with a pilot fab completed as early as July 2027. Intel is reportedly helping with logic using its 2 nm and 1.4 nm-class technology, while a Taiwanese company has been floated as a technology partner for memory. That could be Nanya, though nothing is confirmed.

For context, Samsung's entire DRAM output was estimated at 650,000 to 700,000 wafers a month late last year, while SK hynix was at about 550,000 earlier this year and hopes to reach roughly 1 million by 2030 or 2031. It isn't clear whether Terafab's memory figure covers DRAM alone or also includes NAND, so the Samsung comparison is a loose one. Musk has also been careful with his own dates. On an October SpaceX call, he put "big error bars" on reaching volume production by Q3 2028, with a first SRAM test chip planned for mid-2027 at Terafab's Austin research lab.

Dead Pixels Creep In Along the Edges of Older WOLED TVs, RTINGS Finds

Fourteen of the 16 WOLED TVs in RTINGS' 18,000-hour accelerated longevity test developed what the outlet calls "edge rot," meaning dead pixels and other damage creeping in along the panel edges. All of these sets use LG Display panels and were released between 2020 and 2023, and the test works out to roughly ten years of typical U.S. viewing. Older WBC panels fared worst, with nine of ten affected and five rated severe, while five of six newer WBE panels also showed it. Only the LG A2 and LG G3 came out clean. Meanwhile, the three QD-OLED TVs in the test, Samsung's S95B and S95C and Sony's A95K, didn't have a single dead pixel. However, RTINGS says three units are too few to call QD-OLED immune.

Unlike burn-in, edge rot doesn't depend on what you watch, so the usual advice of mixing up content won't help. RTINGS suspects contamination during manufacturing or flaws in the encapsulation layer that keeps moisture out, though confirming that would need proper failure analysis. Two staffers also found it on their own LG GX and C1 at home. In a statement to RTINGS, LG said the issue may appear in a very small number of products under prolonged heat, humidity or other harsh conditions, and isn't expected in normal use, which is interesting given that LG Display once argued QD-OLED was more prone to burn-in. RTINGS now rates WOLEDs slightly lower for expected reliability, including newer models as a precaution, though it still considers OLEDs more durable than LCDs. Its next planned test includes 2025 and 2026 models, some with LG's RGB Tandem panels, which should show if it's been fixed.

Samsung's 2 nm Taylor Fab 2 Reportedly Fully Booked, Mostly by AMD

Samsung has reportedly booked the entire planned output of its second fab in Taylor, Texas, and most of it is going to AMD. According to an exclusive from Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper, citing industry sources, Taylor Fab 2 will make HBM base dies for AMD and NVIDIA on a 2 nm process, with AMD's orders making up the bulk of it. Apparently, AMD's volume alone is enough to stretch the fab's capacity. Samsung declined to comment, saying it can't confirm customer-related details.

These aren't AMD's CPUs or GPUs, though. The base die is the logic chip at the bottom of an HBM stack, and Samsung plans to pair the Texas-made dies with DRAM produced in South Korea and ship them as finished HBM. Its current HBM4 and the sampled HBM4E use 4 nm base dies, so 2 nm or smaller seems aimed at later HBM generations. The deal also follows Lisa Su's visit to Samsung in October, where Samsung reportedly wanted foundry orders from AMD in return for the HBM that AMD urgently needs. A March MOU had already made Samsung the primary HBM4 supplier for the Instinct MI455X.

The Worst Is Yet to Come for Memory Shortages, Warns Team Group

We might not be past the worst part of the global memory shortages, as the most severe supply chain squeeze could happen soon. During Team Group's earnings conference on November 2, the company stated that the worst period in memory demand is projected to be between Q4 2026 and Q2 2027, which is just a few months away. Major memory makers such as SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron have sold out their 2027 supply and entered into long-term agreements with customers, making it increasingly difficult to source memory for any third-party purposes. Team Group states that even if you have the funds, it might be impossible to purchase memory products. Currently, it is possible to buy memory, albeit at a high price, but soon enough, that may no longer be an option, noted the company.

Even though CXMT and YMTC are supplying close to 10% of the memory market share with their products, it is still impossible to satisfy demand. A supply-demand balance may not emerge until the second half of 2028 or even later. Currently, Team Group sells most of its memory modules to businesses in the B2B sector, which commands 64.6%, while the B2C sector, selling directly to consumers, accounts for 35.4%. This is a sharp reversal compared to the 2025 Q3 figures, where B2B was 24.6% and B2C was 75.4%. Most of the revenue now comes from the business sector developing AI servers, rather than traditional consumer purchases.

Modded RTX 2080 Ti 22 GB Shows What Extra VRAM Can Still Do for Turing

PC Games Hardware has put a modded GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 22 GB through their test gauntlet, and the extra memory seemingly pays off once games run out of headroom. At 4K with DLSS Performance and FSR 3.1 Frame Generation, the card averaged 52.5 FPS in Flight Simulator 2024 against 30.2 FPS on a regular 11 GB model, roughly 74% faster. Spider-Man 2 jumped from 39.4 to 64.0 FPS, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle crashed to the desktop on the 11 GB card. At 1440p with DLSS Quality, the gap was smaller, though those first two games still ran about 20% slower on 11 GB. Of course, PCGH chose nine memory-hungry games on purpose, and most titles run fine on 11 GB. Keep in mind that these are just one outlet's numbers, and other results may vary.

These cards have shown up everywhere from Alibaba to eBay listings at $499, and this one came from a reader. All eleven memory chips are swapped for 2 GB Samsung parts. No firmware changes are needed, since relocating a single strap resistor tells the GPU about the extra capacity, and NVIDIA's regular drivers pick it up. Its weak blower-style cooler and 250 W limit held it back, so PCGH tuned both cards to identical 1.9 GHz, 15 GT/s, and 280 W settings. At around €500, the 22 GB card costs quite a bit less than a 16 GB RTX 5060 Ti, which goes for €770 in Germany. PCGH still calls it a gamble, citing eight-year-old hardware and soldering work that can fail weeks later, and advises checking the seller's reputation and whether any warranty goes beyond a 30-day return window.

Samsung Hosts OpenAI's Sam Altman for AI Seminar, No Supply Deal Announced

Two days after arguing that the DRAM in home PCs would be put to better use in data centers, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat down with around 50 Samsung presidents on Saturday, October 31. The group went well past the chip business, with leaders from Samsung's finance and biotech arms joining the electronics side at the company's training center in Yongin. Samsung presented it as part of a leadership seminar series for its company-wide AI push, and the talks apparently covered where AI is headed, the markets it could open up, and how it changes the way large companies make decisions. According to Samsung, Altman told the room that adopting AI alone doesn't give anyone an edge, and that the payoff comes from using it to move faster and build better products.

Nothing came out of it in terms of a new supply contract, at least publicly, and Samsung's own write-up stuck to AI strategy. Still, it's hard to look at the visit separately from the memory shortage. Samsung signed a letter of intent with OpenAI back in October 2025 to act as a memory partner for Stargate, with OpenAI's demand projected at up to 900,000 DRAM wafers per month. Separately, on October 31, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won also reportedly met Altman in Seoul, with SK hynix and SK Telecom executives joining, according to industry sources. Last month, AMD's Lisa Su spent hours with Samsung's chip chief chasing HBM supply, and amid all these meetings, Micron's CEO expects the memory crunch to get worse in 2027 and 2028. It seems like every major buyer is knocking on the same Korean doors.

OpenAI CEO Argues Home PCs Waste the World's Limited DRAM Supply

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks the DRAM sitting inside personal computers would be better used in data centers. He made the comments on the Cheeky Pint podcast, hosted by Stripe co-founder John Collison, in an episode released on October 29. The two were discussing the memory supply chain when the topic turned to local inference, meaning running AI models on your own hardware instead of the cloud. Here's what Altman said, at roughly the 29-minute mark:
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEOA lot of people want local inference. And somehow, they assume that the problem is solved now. Because, we are going to have open-source models. We're going to be able to run them on our computers. And so we're not going to need all the stuff in the data center. But from a global allocation perspective, actually, it's quite terrible to have everybody have a bunch of the world's limited supply of DRAM sitting in their own computer. And, being used 5% of the time. You want maximum utilization in the cloud if you're trying to deal with this very supply constrained environment. And somehow everyone's... many people's intuition is the opposite of that.

Samsung Electronics Announces Third Quarter 2026 Results

Samsung Electronics today reported financial results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026. The Company posted KRW 195.3 trillion in consolidated revenue, another all-time quarterly high, representing a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase of 14%. Operating profit reached KRW 107.4 trillion, making Samsung Electronics the world's first tech company to exceed KRW 100 trillion in quarterly operating profit.

The Device Solutions (DS) Division posted a QoQ sales increase of 15%, with the Memory Business setting an all-time high for quarterly revenue and operating profit, as semiconductor demand is set to remain robust. The Device eXperience (DX) Division posted a QoQ revenue increase of 8% and recorded an operating loss of KRW 0.8 trillion.

Global OLED Notebook Shipments Forecast to Grow Over 40% YoY in 2027

Apple's newly unveiled MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display marks a significant milestone in the evolution of MacBook display technology and user experience, becoming the first model in the lineup to feature a tandem OLED touchscreen. TrendForce estimates that shipments of the new model will reach 1.2-1.5 million units in 2027. Apple's entry into the OLED notebook market is also providing fresh impetus for panel makers to accelerate the development of advanced display technologies.

However, TrendForce notes that the new MacBook Pro's premium starting price of US$2,899 for the 14-inch model, coupled with its initial availability alongside existing Mini-LED models, could temper near-term replacement demand.

Samsung 8LPU+ Gets Floated as the Node for a Future Switch 2 Lite

Samsung Foundry will present 8LPU+, the second generation of its 8LPU platform, at IEDM 2026 on December 14, and Nintendo Patents Watch has already pegged it as a possible fit for a Switch 2 Lite. It's speculation for now. Nintendo hasn't announced a Switch 2 Lite, and Samsung's material doesn't mention Nintendo or NVIDIA. The link exists because the Switch 2's NVIDIA T239 SoC is built on Samsung's 8 nm node, so a refined version of that process is an obvious candidate for a cheaper handheld-only model.

Samsung's IEDM abstract lists 12% higher performance, 15% lower power, and an 8% area shrink over 8LPU, along with roughly 10% smaller I/O area and lower standby leakage. It's a DUV-only node, and Samsung pitches it at automotive, robotics and edge AI chips. Korea's Electronic Times reports the platform should arrive before year's end, and quoted an industry official who named existing 8 nm customers as likely candidates. Of course, these are process-level figures, so they don't directly translate into a future Switch 2 Lite that runs 12% faster or lasts 15% longer per charge. We also don't know how closely NVIDIA's custom 8N variant maps onto 8LPU+.

Micron Walks Away From 4F² DRAM After Two Decades of Research, Bets on 3D DRAM Instead

Micron has decided not to bring 4F² DRAM to market, even though it says it invented the cell design and has been researching it for around two decades. Scott DeBoer, Micron's President and Chief Technology and Products Officer, shared the decision during the company's technology webinar on October 21. On paper, 4F² uses vertical channel transistors to shrink each memory cell's footprint by about a third compared with the 6F² layout used in today's DRAM. However, DeBoer argued that real-world density is limited by how closely the capacitors can be packed, not by the cell's footprint, calling the density advantage over 6F² "a bit of a myth." He also said 4F² can be built, but at a higher cost and complexity, and that it runs into fundamental scaling problems at leading-edge nodes, which points toward 3D DRAM instead.

That puts Micron at odds with its rivals. Samsung and SK hynix are both developing 4F² designs, and China's CXMT says its first 4F² product will be a server DDR5 RDIMM due by the end of this year. Micron will keep scaling 6F² instead, with its 1-delta node set to ramp in Boise, Idaho, in the second half of 2027 and the 1-epsilon node after it moving to wafer bonding. 3D DRAM is being developed as a parallel path, but there's no timeline yet, and Micron says it will only switch once the economics make sense. It's a risky bet if rivals manage to make 4F² cheap at scale, especially with memory supply expected to get even tighter in 2027 and 2028, per Micron's own estimates.

NVIDIA and Supply Chain Partners Expand Capacity to Accelerate AI Infrastructure Buildout

NVIDIA today announced plans with a group of supply chain partners to expand global manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand for its accelerated computing and full-stack AI factory platform.

Working with Amkor Technology, IBIDEN, King Yuan Electronics (KYEC), Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) and Unimicron Technology Corporation, NVIDIA is enabling new and existing suppliers to expand critical manufacturing capabilities across substrates, advanced packaging, testing and optical engines, strengthening the resiliency and redundancy of NVIDIA's global supply chain.

Samsung Taps TSMC for NVHBM Base Die Production

Samsung is reportedly collaborating with the world's largest chip maker, TSMC, to secure a base die supply for NVIDIA's newly announced NVHBM memory standard. NVHBM integrates the controller into the 3D HBM stack, significantly enhancing performance and efficiency. Compared to standard HBM4E, NVIDIA claims up to 30% more memory bandwidth, 15% lower HBM power consumption, and up to 25% more usable compute die area on the processing unit. In simple terms, NVHBM builds on the standard HBM architecture with base die customization, but there are a few strict requirements that must be fulfilled before mass production.

Interestingly, one of the requirements is that NVIDIA's base die in the NVHBM must be manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm node. Even though Samsung has its own 3 nm production lines, NVIDIA's IP is optimized for TSMC's nodes. This forces Samsung to collaborate with TSMC and become a customer, despite having its own production capabilities. However, this arrangement is only for the base die, which integrates directly next to the compute tiles. For memory, Samsung will continue using its sixth-generation 10 nm processes, which are typical for HBM manufacturing. This means that only part of the production will be handled by TSMC.

Samsung to Break Ground on Second Taylor Fab in November, Production Targeted for 2030

Samsung will reportedly break ground on its second chip fab in Taylor, Texas, this November, with mass production targeted for 2030. DigiTimes, citing South Korea's The Guru, reports that Taylor Fab 2 will span roughly 2.7 million square feet. Samsung also appears to have confirmed the timing at an October 15 event near the site, where Jonathan Taylor of Samsung Austin Semiconductor said construction should start early next month and that Fab 2 will be "one and a half times bigger than Fab One." In July, Samsung admitted that its leading-edge capacity was lagging customer demand, while inquiries for its 1.4 nm process, a node it was reportedly considering shelving last year, kept climbing. The process for Fab 2 hasn't been disclosed yet.

The first Taylor fab, which has slipped well past its original 2024 target, seems to be on track this time. Installed tools have started running processes as the plant goes through staged qualification. Fab 1 uses EUV lithography for Samsung's 2 nm process, with operations planned by the end of 2026 and volume production in 2027. Its best-known customer is Tesla, which signed a $16.5 billion deal running through 2033 that covers the AI6 chip, and Samsung is also set to build Tesla's AI5 on 2 nm in Texas. How orders will be split between the two fabs is unknown. Samsung plans to invest over $37 billion across Central Texas, backed by up to $4.745 billion in CHIPS Act funding. Given how long Fab 1 took, it's reasonable to expect that the 2030 target will depend heavily on demand.

AMD CEO Visits Samsung for HBM, Samsung Wants Foundry Orders in Return

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su reportedly visited Samsung on October 7th and spent about three hours with Samsung chip chief Jun Young-hyun in Seoul on Wednesday, and a Korean media report suggests the two sides want different things from each other. As relayed by @jukan05 on X, Samsung apparently wants AMD to place orders with Samsung Foundry in return for HBM and other memory, which AMD urgently needs. A senior semiconductor industry official quoted in the report said "AMD sees entrusting its foundry work to Samsung Electronics as too risky," and added that this gap is what brought about the talks. Neither company has confirmed any of it, so it is best treated as an industry report for now.

Su's public comments were far more diplomatic. Speaking to Reuters and other reporters in Seoul ahead of the meeting, she said AMD continues to explore opportunities with Samsung in both memory and foundry. Asked directly whether AMD would build chips at Samsung, she stopped short of confirming any plans. She was more direct about memory, urging suppliers to "build faster, as fast as possible" and noting that AMD is working with customers to trim their memory footprint.

Samsung HBM4E Passes Testing for NVIDIA's "Rubin Ultra" GPU

Samsung's upcoming HBM4E memory has reportedly passed testing for NVIDIA's next-generation "Rubin Ultra" AI GPU accelerator family. This is great news for the company, as its previous HBM3E didn't meet NVIDIA's requirements, leading NVIDIA to choose Samsung for GDDR7 only, instead of HBM3E. The new HBM generation brings significant advancements, and Samsung is one of the leading manufacturers with designs currently running at 14 Gbps per pin and 2,048 pins per HBM4E stack. Samsung can achieve a maximum bandwidth of 3.6 TB/s, and at 16 Gbps, this maximum memory bandwidth will increase to 4 TB/s for a single HBM4E stack.

With about a dozen memory stacks per AI accelerator or GPU, the total memory bandwidth will be remarkable. The company is currently offering this memory in a 12-layer (or 12-high) configuration with a memory density of 48 GB per stack. However, customer requirements will also include 8-layer 32 GB and 16-layer 64 GB stacks in the future.

Samsung Foundry to Manufacture Anthropic AI ASIC on 2 nm Node

Samsung Foundry may be on the verge of securing a significant deal with AI lab Anthropic to manufacture AI accelerators. According to the latest report, Anthropic is developing its custom AI accelerator on Samsung's SF2 2 nm node, which will initially be produced in a lower volume of around 200,000 chips. The design and implementation of this ASIC are being handled by Broadcom, targeting around 4,000 TOPS of INT8 compute, with a TDP of 1,300 W per chip. This will be supported by either 192 GB of HBM3E or even 288 GB of HBM3E, if the design allows. The current production volume is low, as ASIC projects are typically counted in millions of chips. However, Anthropic is likely evaluating the project's viability, which requires a complete custom infrastructure with networking, rack design, power supply, cooling, and many other factors.

The current Samsung SF2 node is built using Low-NA EUV lithography and is manufactured in South Korea, with a new facility soon to be established in Taylor, Texas. For packaging these chips and integrating them with HBM, Samsung is likely to employ its I-Cube technology, which rivals TSMC's CoWoS and allows for 2.5D packaging. Combined with the 2 nm dies, Samsung can position itself as a serious manufacturing plant for external customers and slightly close the gap with TSMC and its contract manufacturing business.

Samsung Introduces Galaxy Tab S12 Series

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy Tab S12 series—Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Tab S12+—delivering Samsung's most capable and versatile tablet experience yet. Packing breakthrough performance, long-lasting battery life, and the latest Galaxy AI into Galaxy Tab's signature ultra-thin design, the new lineup turns complex workflows into effortless, everyday achievements whether it's mastering skills, pursuing career goals, or exploring creative passions.

Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Tab S12+ feature immersive displays and come bundled with the ergonomically designed S Pen for effortless note-taking and precise editing. With easy access to professional-grade apps and versatile accessories, users can pursue their passions and progress toward their goals with ease. Combining portability with professional-grade power, the Galaxy Tab S12 series gives users instant access to powerful capabilities whenever inspiration strikes.

Panther Lake Teardown Shows Intel 18A Near TSMC N3E, Newer TSMC Nodes Still Ahead

SemiAnalysis has published a teardown of Intel's Panther Lake (Core Ultra 7 365), offering a rare look at 18A inside a shipping chip. Intel's 18A node brings advanced manufacturing technologies such as rear-side power delivery and a new transistor design, so its success is vital for the Foundry. The firm found the 18A compute logic to be similar in density to the TSMC N3E logic used in the 12-core Xe3 GPU tile. It also puts 18A about 18.6% denser than the Intel 3 GPU logic, using a representative-cell model. However, SemiAnalysis says 18A does not lead TSMC N3P, N2, or Samsung SF2 in peak density. It further cautions that whole-die density depends on cell mix and placement.

Panther Lake is Intel's first chip with RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors, and the first commercial implementation of PowerVia backside power delivery. SemiAnalysis counted four stacked ribbons per transistor, compared to three sheets on Samsung's SF2. Moreover, the Cougar Cove P-core takes roughly the same area as Lunar Lake's Lion Cove, even though L2 grew from 2.5 MiB to 3 MiB. Panther Lake's NPU 5 reportedly requires 36.9% less chip area than Lunar Lake's NPU 4, though the number of INT8 MAC units remains the same. SemiAnalysis describes the CPU cores as incremental updates.

Micron's 2 GB GDDR7 Memory Chips Reportedly Reach End of Life

Micron has reportedly discontinued its 2 GB GDDR7 memory chips, the same modules used on several GeForce RTX 50 series cards. Spotted by UNIKO's Hardware, Micron's 28 Gbps D8FHL chip (MT68A512M32DF-28:A) is now listed as end of life on the company's own website. Every 2 GB GDDR7 chip in Micron's catalog, both the 28 Gbps and 32 Gbps variants, now carries the same EOL status, leaving 3 GB modules as the only option going forward.

Micron only started supplying GDDR7 to NVIDIA in a meaningful way earlier this year, and its chips were never the primary source for RTX 50 cards. Samsung and SK Hynix still cover the bulk of the supply, so this shouldn't cause an immediate shortage. Still, losing even a partial supplier during an already tight memory market isn't reassuring, and it says something about where these companies would rather put their manufacturing capacity these days.

Samsung to Double HBM4 and HBM4E Capacity in 2027 Amid Strong Demand

Samsung is reportedly increasing its orders for materials to boost high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production, with plans to double the production capacity of its current HBM4 and HBM4E manufacturing by 2027. According to SE Daily, the manufacturing capacity for HBM4 and HBM4E is expected to grow from around 20,000 wafers per month in 2026 to 50,000 wafers per month in 2027. This data is derived from the use of glass carriers, which are temporary glass panels placed over thin DRAM wafers to prevent warping or breaking as they are prepared for packaging. Since HBM involves stacking many thin DRAM modules, glass carriers stabilize these wafers until the packaging process begins and the glass is removed. As the unit is one glass carrier per wafer, this provides an estimate of how many HBM4 and HBM4E wafers are produced each month.

Additionally, Samsung's overall HBM production, which includes older generations like HBM3 and HBM3E, currently averages around 180,000 wafers this year and is expected to grow to about 250,000 HBM wafers next year, with 80% dedicated to HBM4 and HBM4E. Samsung began mass production of HBM4 on its sixth-generation 10 nm-class 1c node in February, with HBM4E customer samples available by mid-2026. Future production increases will focus on HBM4 and HBM4E, as customers seek higher densities and bandwidth for their AI accelerators.

Chinese DRAM Maker CXMT Is Reportedly Preparing to Enter the NAND Flash Market

CXMT, China's largest DRAM maker, is reportedly getting ready to enter the NAND flash market. According to a Reuters report citing people familiar with the matter, the company plans to set up a NAND R&D production line at its new plant in Beijing. CXMT has also set up a research institute in the capital, and NAND development is apparently among its projects there. That would put it up against Samsung and other global players, and against domestic rival YMTC, which already ranks third in NAND shipments. One of the sources says CXMT has already discussed its plans with customers, including a newly established startup that wants to buy the chips for AI and supercomputer storage products.

We also don't know when the R&D line will start running, or whether CXMT intends to go past R&D and trial production into large-scale manufacturing. CXMT and YMTC are often called the "twin stars" of China's memory industry, and they have mostly stayed in separate lanes. That seems to be changing, since Reuters reported in April that YMTC had sent low-power DRAM samples to customers. Both still trail the bigger foreign rivals, but the shortage has given them some pricing power, and CXMT was reportedly charging more than Samsung for 64 GB DDR5 server modules in July. TrendForce expects NAND supply tightness to ease only in the second half of next year, and I doubt one R&D line would change that.

Samsung and Qualcomm Forge 2.1D Packaging Alliance

Samsung and Qualcomm are reportedly forming a 2.1D Packaging Alliance to provide customers with access to advanced chip packaging using bridges that connect silicon dies. Interestingly, Samsung and Qualcomm are developing an organic bridge technology that will serve as the adhesive to hold two chips together. For example, Intel already uses a similar approach with its Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) advanced packaging, but it employs small silicon bridges. The new 2.1D packaging alliance will use organic bridges made from materials commonly found in traditional PCBs, such as organic polymer materials like epoxy and copper wiring, to interconnect multiple chips.

This organic bridge uses redistribution layers (RDL), formed by multiple layers of fine circuitry with extremely small wires and space between them. This makes the technology more similar to PCB manufacturing than silicon manufacturing, enabling packaging densities that closely match modern silicon-based EMIB. Reportedly, Samsung will manufacture this 2.1D package using multiple RDLs packaged inside a flip-chip ball grid array package. Ultimately, the company aims for the organic bridge's line width and spacing to be 1.5 to 2 micrometers each, with via sizes of 4 to 5 micrometers. Die-to-die pattern density is targeted at 500 to 1,000 per millimeter.

Samsung and Mistral AI Announce Partnership for Intelligence-Driven Semiconductor Infrastructure

Samsung Electronics today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Mistral AI to enhance its semiconductor engineering and manufacturing capabilities that will reinforce its leadership in AI chip technologies. The announcement of the partnership was made during the state summit held in Paris between South Korea and France. Under the agreement, Samsung will integrate Mistral's AI services and solutions—including its flagship large language model, Mistral Large—across its semiconductor operations to develop customized on-premises AI models optimized for intelligence-driven infrastructure.

Mistral's powerful AI platform is expected to provide Samsung with a unique stack of tools that will transform how semiconductors are designed and manufactured. The on-premises enterprise solutions will especially ensure security and flexibility required to process highly sensitive technologies and operational data entirely within the boundaries of Samsung's semiconductor infrastructure, maintaining total control over its mission-critical technologies.
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