NVIDIA Releases 'Rubin' Featuring HBM4, Launching New Products Annually

Jensen Huang AI GPU 'Huang's Law'
'Computex 2024' Keynote
Performance UP 3 Months After Blackwell
Mass Production Scheduled from 2026
SK Hynix Expands Partners
Samsung Electronics Also Conducts New Product Quality Verification
Expected Benefits Forecast 'Supply War'

"No company can keep up with NVIDIA's development speed right now."

A key insider in the semiconductor industry recently explained why global companies, including South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, are rushing to supply high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to NVIDIA. The focus is on the fact that NVIDIA, which produces AI chips and other products, has a very fast product release cycle. The faster the cycle, the higher the demand for HBM. It is analyzed that once a company is selected by NVIDIA to meet this demand, it can secure high profitability going forward, leading to continuous fierce competition for this position.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, is speaking about the GPU platform at the Computex keynote held on the 2nd at the National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by NVIDIA Newsroom

On June 3 (local time), as Computex 2024, Asia's largest ICT exhibition, opens in Taipei, Taiwan, NVIDIA is once again drawing global attention by accelerating its development speed. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's CEO, unveiled the next-generation AI graphics processing unit (GPU) platform, "Rubin," for the first time during his keynote speech at the National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei at 7 p.m. on June 2, the eve of the event. In his speech about how the AI era will lead a global new business revolution, Huang announced, "Rubin is scheduled for mass production starting in 2026." He also added that "through GPUs equipped with functions necessary for data centers, we will push new technologies such as packaging, memory, and optics to their limits."

This announcement came just three months after Huang introduced the "Blackwell platform" in March, revealing a new version with even higher performance. NVIDIA plans to release one new product each year. The Blackwell GPU is expected to be commercialized by the end of this year, followed by the "Blackwell Ultra" GPU in 2025, and the Rubin GPU in 2026. Huang also stated that the "Rubin Ultra" GPU will be introduced in 2027. GPUs are parallel processing semiconductors that handle large amounts of data simultaneously and are mainly used in the AI field today.

As NVIDIA's product release cycle accelerates, both SK Hynix, which currently supplies HBM, and Samsung Electronics, which is attempting to enter the market, are expected to benefit. GPUs derive their power from the installed HBM. The higher the GPU performance, the greater the need for HBM. The "Blackwell Ultra" GPU is expected to be equipped with the 5th generation HBM, HBM3E. Meanwhile, Rubin is reported to use the 6th generation HBM, "HBM4." If so, Rubin will become the first GPU to use HBM4. Local Taiwanese media reported that Rubin GPUs will adopt 3nm process products from Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry, but CEO Huang did not comment on this. Competition among companies to supply HBM4 may intensify again.

SK Hynix is reportedly participating in Computex for the first time to showcase its latest memory solutions to local companies. It is expected to strengthen cooperation with NVIDIA and TSMC and seek opportunities to expand collaboration with other local companies. Samsung Electronics is focusing on passing quality tests (qual tests) for the 5th generation HBM and 12-stack HBM3E currently underway at NVIDIA. Although a report emerged on May 24 from the U.S. claiming that Samsung Electronics failed the qual test, Samsung has denied this. Industry sources explain that qual tests typically proceed by the supplier providing a dedicated sample product of the model to the customer, who then verifies it and requests modifications if necessary, after which the supplier customizes the product accordingly. Based on this, it is interpreted that Samsung's qual test is not yet complete but has only identified items that need modification midway.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.