Samsung diversifies HBM bonder suppliers

Samsung is widening the list of machines it tests to stack high-bandwidth memory, as delays in hybrid bonding push the company to hedge its equipment supply chain. (trendforce.com) High-bandwidth memory is built by stacking dynamic random-access memory dies on top of each other, then bonding them so they can move data fast enough for artificial-intelligence processors. Samsung has used thermal-compression bonding for current 12-layer products, while reports say it is now advancing demonstrations with ASMPT and considering broader supplier options for the next step. (thelec.net) (trendforce.com) Hybrid bonding is the newer method: instead of tiny solder bumps, it connects copper pads directly, which cuts the gap between chips and raises signal density. Samsung has said its HBM4 doubles input-output pins to 2,048 and lifts bandwidth to as much as 3,300 gigabytes per second, which is why thinner, denser stacking has become central to its roadmap. (samsungpop.com) (semiconductor.samsung.com) Samsung’s own presentations and industry reports have pointed to hybrid bonding as the practical route for 16-layer high-bandwidth memory, where package height and heat become harder to manage. TrendForce, citing Samsung material from the 2024 Electronic Components and Technology Conference, reported that Samsung viewed hybrid bonding as essential for 16-stack products and above. (trendforce.com) The catch is timing. TrendForce reported in July 2025 that high-bandwidth memory hybrid bonding was still in the research-and-development stage, with Samsung, SK hynix and Micron in prototype production rather than broad commercial rollout. (trendforce.com) That delay has turned bonders into a supply-chain issue, not just a process issue. ASMPT said in its fourth-quarter 2024 results that it had delivered its first hybrid-bonding tool to a logic customer in the third quarter of 2024 and had won initial orders for two next-generation tools for high-bandwidth memory, with delivery set for mid-2025. (asmpt.com) Other memory makers are already spreading risk across bonder vendors. The Elec reported that SK hynix had been using ASMPT tools in small volumes and that both Micron and Samsung were expected to keep thermal-compression non-conductive-film processes for some HBM4 work even while evaluating hybrid bonding for 16-layer products. (thelec.net) (trendforce.com) Samsung’s memory push comes after a weaker position in the artificial-intelligence memory race than SK hynix and Micron through much of 2024 and 2025. Samsung said on March 17, 2026 that its HBM4 is now in mass production for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform, showing the company is trying to move from catching up on HBM3E to setting the pace on the next generation. (news.samsungsemiconductor.com) For Samsung, adding bonder options is a way to keep that schedule from depending on a single machine maker. The technology shift has not disappeared; the company is just building a wider bridge to reach it. (trendforce.com)