SK Hynix's partial HBM4 backend equipment orders may be postponed until next year

According to DealSite, storage chip manufacturer SK Hynix is expanding the mass production of the sixth-generation high bandwidth memory HBM4. However, some industry insiders believe that the expansion speed is slower than expected, and some equipment orders planned for this year may be postponed until next year.

Industry insiders stated that some equipment originally scheduled for delivery in the second half of this year has shown signs of delay, and subsequent order plans have not yet been clarified. An anonymous source indicated that some equipment originally planned for this year may be pushed to next year, and there is no data confirming whether the delivered equipment is operating at full capacity. The investment plans related to HBM4 for next year have not been specifically communicated to some partners, and this year's orders have largely been completed, but there are no clear signals of increased or decreased investment. Reports suggest that the direct correlation between the equipment investment schedule and product quality issues has not yet been confirmed.

Liu Henggen, a researcher at Daxin Securities, believes that concerns about major customers' HBM4 quality issues leading to performance below expectations are excessive. There may have been some issues in the backend process, but they cannot be regarded as insurmountable risks, and it is not yet time to discuss bad compensation. There are also industry claims that, against the backdrop of rising prices for general memory, some HBM investments may shift towards general memory. SK Hynix plans to prioritize the introduction of DRAM production equipment into the first cleanroom of the Yongin cluster Y1 wafer fab, and the industry expects that the initial production line will adopt the sixth-generation 10-nanometer 1c process, with the new capacity being prioritized for general DRAM. Some opinions also suggest that changes in the schedule of certain backend equipment are insufficient to determine that HBM4 mass production is hindered, as SK Hynix has already supplied HBM4 16-layer samples to major customers.