SK hynix Starts Mass Production of World's First 12-Layer HBM3E Memory

Seoul, South Korea - SK hynix Inc. has begun volume production of the world's first 12-layer High Bandwidth Memory 3E (HBM3E) with 36GB capacity, the company announced on Thursday.

The South Korean chipmaker plans to supply the new product to customers by year-end, six months after delivering the 8-layer HBM3E in March.

The 12-layer HBM3E features the highest memory speed available at 9.6 Gbps, allowing a single GPU equipped with four HBM3E products to read 70 billion parameters of the Llama 3 70B language model 35 times per second.

SK hynix increased capacity by 50% compared to the previous 8-layer product by stacking 12 layers of 3GB DRAM chips. 

The company made each chip 40% thinner and used Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology for vertical stacking.

SK hynix applied its Advanced Mass Reflow Molded Underfill (MR-MUF) process to address structural issues from higher stacking, improving heat dissipation by 10% compared to the previous generation.

Justin Kim, President of SK Hynix, stated the company would continue to be the top global AI memory provider by preparing next-generation memory products.

SK Hynix, the sole company that has developed and supplied the entire HBM lineup since 2013, aims to maintain its leadership in the AI memory market with the new 12-layer HBM3E.