”Team America” Micron strikes back... K-Memory in crisis = Korean reports

"Team America" is sending shock waves through the Korean memory industry. Micron, an American memory manufacturer that joined NVIDIA's supply chain, is rapidly increasing its share of the DRAM market.
The market is expanding rapidly, and the company has even shipped samples of HBM4, the sixth generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM). As the US-centered semiconductor ecosystem becomes stronger, Korea is also taking special measures.
There are voices saying that it is urgent. According to the industry on the 11th, Micron recently delivered a 12-stage HBM4 sample with a capacity of 36GB to a major customer. The main customer is an artificial intelligence (AI)
The accelerators are believed to be being developed by NVIDIA and AMD, both of which have in common that they are American companies.
HBM4 is a next-generation product that is expected to be fully implemented in AI semiconductors from next year.
With the competitiveness of HBM causing a shakeup in the DRAM market, this is considered to be the most important memory product. Trend Force, a market research firm, said, "HBM4 will be replaced by the 5th generation HBM in the second half of next year.
"It will overtake 3E as the mainstream solution," he said. SK Hynix is leading the HBM4 market. It already provided samples to NVIDIA in March of this year.
However, Micron's HBM4 development speed is faster than Samsung Electronics. Samsung has not yet passed NVIDIA's 5th generation HBM3E quality test.
"It's no secret that Korean S-class semiconductor engineers prefer to move to American companies, and Micron is particularly popular among them," a senior official said.
Micron is also working to expand production. The company recently unveiled the construction site of its memory fab in Boise, Idaho.
In a photo taken at the event, the American flag flew in a symbol of America's semiconductor comeback. Micron's giant Boise fab is targeted to begin mass production next year.
The industry sees Micron's rapid growth as part of the "Team America" strategy.
"Micron is considering subsidies from the U.S. government," said Lee Gyu-bok, a special research fellow at the Korea Electronics Research Institute.
"If we take that into account, it will grow significantly under the Trump administration," he said. In the semiconductor manufacturing sector, where the United States is considered weak, the United States is responding by strengthening cooperation with Taiwan's TSMC.
The M4 is expected to further strengthen the supply chain alliance between the United States and Taiwan, as foundry processes will be applied to the logic die, which is the "brain" of HBM.
"The US has begun to develop Micron in earnest under the Biden administration," said Shin Hyun-cheol, a professor at Kwangwoon University's School of Semiconductor Systems Engineering. "The new South Korean government is also working to quickly pass a special semiconductor law," he said.
It should be done," he said.