by seanmcdirmid | 2026-02-28 01:11:41+00:00
I get that you are an AI skeptic but you can do better than that with a quick search these days. HBM for high end (commercial) GPUs.

SK Hynix

The current HBM market leader is fast-tracking multiple "megafabs" and packaging centers.
Cheongju, South Korea (P&T7): A new $13 billion advanced packaging and testing plant dedicated to stacking and testing HBM chips. Construction is set to begin in April 2026, with completion by late 2027.

Cheongju, South Korea (M15X): This fab is being fast-tracked for HBM4 mass production, with the first cleanroom now expected to open in February 2027.

Yongin, South Korea: SK Hynix is investing roughly $22 billion in the first fab of a massive new semiconductor cluster. Operations are planned to start in February 2027.

West Lafayette, Indiana, USA: A $3.87 billion advanced packaging site that will integrate HBM directly onto GPUs. Construction fencing was installed in February 2026, with production targeted for late 2028.

Samsung Electronics

Samsung is accelerating its "Shell First" strategy to secure production space ahead of competitors.

Pyeongtaek, South Korea (P4 & P5): Samsung has advanced the construction of the P5 cleanroom by several months, with a new operational target of late 2027. The P4 line is expected to come online even earlier, likely during 2026.

Taylor, Texas, USA: This $17 billion "megafab" is designed for advanced logic and HBM packaging. While hit by delays, it is now targeting a late 2026 opening.

Micron Technology

Micron is diversifying its HBM production across the U.S. and Asia to grow its market share.

Boise, Idaho, USA (ID1 & ID2): The ID1 fab reached a key milestone in June 2025 and is expected to start wafer output in the second half of 2027. ID2 is planned to follow shortly after.

Onondaga County, New York, USA: Micron officially broke ground in January 2026 on a $100 billion "megafab" complex, though significant supply is not expected until near 2030.

Hiroshima, Japan: A planned $9.6 billion HBM-focused fab is expected to come online between 2027 and 2028.

Singapore & Taiwan: Micron began construction on a $24 billion wafer facility in Singapore in January 2026 and acquired a fab in Taiwan for $1.8 billion to rapidly expand DRAM capacity by late 2027.

For lower end GPUs, like what goes into Apple machines.

New LPDDR Production Facilities

Samsung (Pyeongtaek P4 & P5): Samsung is converting several NAND flash lines to DRAM and accelerating the P4 and P5 fabs in South Korea. While these fabs support HBM, they are also designed for mass-producing 6th-generation 1c DRAM, which will form the basis of the next-gen LPDDR6 modules expected to debut in 2026.

SK Hynix (Icheon & M15X): SK Hynix is planning an 8-fold increase in 1c DRAM production by the end of 2026. This capacity will be split between HBM and "general-purpose" DRAM, which includes the LPDDR variants used in mobile and laptop chips.

Micron (Boise, Idaho - ID1): Micron's new ID1 fab in Boise is currently under construction, with structural steel completion reached in late 2025. It is scheduled to begin wafer output in the second half of 2027, focusing on leading-edge DRAM that includes LPDDR for the U.S. market.

The "Memory Wall" for Apple

The primary challenge is that HBM production requires significantly more wafer area than standard LPDDR. Consequently, even as these new factories open, the shortage of commodity DRAM (LPDDR5X/LPDDR6) is expected to persist through 2028 because manufacturers find HBM far more profitable.