Jensen Huang: "Blackwell and Vera Rubin to be supplied simultaneously"… Samsung Electronics, SK hynix extend gains [Stock+]

HBM4 race heats up in earnest… Samsung Electronics and SK hynix show strength in the pre-market

With Nvidia posting record-high revenue on sustained demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, shares of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to gain fresh momentum on the 26th.

As of 8:15 a.m., in the NextTrade (NXT) pre-market, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were up 2.21% and 2.95% from the previous day, trading at 208,000 won and 1,048,000 won, respectively. After resetting all-time highs a day earlier, the two companies extended gains as Nvidia—their biggest customer—once again underscored its earnings dominance.

Earlier, Nvidia said in its earnings release after the close of the New York stock market that fiscal fourth-quarter (November last year to January this year) revenue rose 73% year on year to $68.13 billion (about 98 trillion won). The figure beat the market estimate of $66.2 billion and marked an all-time high.

By segment, data-center revenue—driven by AI chips—jumped 75% from a year earlier to $62.3 billion, leading the strong results. That also topped the market estimate ($60.5 billion). Full-year revenue rose 65% year on year to $215.9 billion, and net profit exceeded $100 billion.

The outlook also surpassed expectations. Nvidia forecast revenue for the current quarter (February–April) at $78.0 billion. That is more than 7% above the Wall Street consensus (average estimate) of $72.6 billion.

Attention on the day centered on whether the company would comment on the market for next-generation high-bandwidth memory, HBM4. With the launch of the new platform “Vera Rubin” slated for this year, competition to supply the sixth-generation product, HBM4, is expected to intensify.

Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and U.S. chipmaker Micron—each with HBM production capacity—are all in the final stage of Nvidia’s HBM4 performance validation (quality tests). They expect mass production to ramp up in late 1Q or 2Q.

According to U.S. semiconductor industry outlet TrendForce, SK hynix—Nvidia’s largest partner—is expected to be allocated about 65% of total volumes for HBM4 as well, following the previous generation. Earlier this year, SK hynix also unveiled a 16-high HBM4 that lifted bandwidth to more than 2TB/s.

Samsung Electronics is estimated to be allocated about 30%, less than half of SK hynix’s share. Samsung is viewed as having an edge in HBM4 technology, having been the first among the three memory makers to officially confirm mass-production shipments of sixth-generation HBM.

In particular, as analysts say Nvidia is unlikely to assign an excessive share to any single supplier to stabilize an HBM supply chain rattled by a recent surge in DRAM prices, Samsung Electronics could have room to increase its market share.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on a conference call following the results that the company “plans to supply Blackwell and Vera Rubin simultaneously this year to meet diverse customer demand,” adding that “orders are already planned from multiple customers.” He struck a cautious tone, however, saying it was too early to provide specific figures.

Noh Jeong-dong, Hankyung.com reporter dong2@hankyung.com