SAMSUNG'S REPORTED 3X HBM ASK FOR 2027 BREAKS INTO TWO STEPS:
🚨ABOUT 1.4X FOR MOVING FROM HBM3E TO HBM4, THEN ABOUT 2.2X ON THE SAME HBM4 STACK
SEOUL, Oct. 5 — Samsung Electronics is seeking 2027 prices for its next-generation high-bandwidth memory that are more than three times the price of its current HBM3E, DigiTimes reported on Monday, citing industry sources. The figures reported in Korea are estimates and proposals, not disclosed contract prices.
— Samsung's reported 2027 HBM4 ask: in the mid-$4 range per gigabit.
— Current HBM3E: about $1.50 per gigabit.
— A 12-high, 36GB HBM4 stack: about $600 this year and about $1,300 next year, according to industry estimates cited by Seoul Economic Daily.
— Micron (
$MU), Sept. 30 earnings call: the vast majority of its calendar 2027 HBM supply is already under agreement, at prices significantly higher than 2026.
I put Samsung's per-gigabit ask next to the per-stack estimate. A 36GB stack holds 288 gigabits, so $4.50 a gigabit comes to $1,296 a stack, which lines up with the separate $1,300 estimate. At $600, this year's HBM4 already costs about $2.08 a gigabit, roughly 1.4 times HBM3E. The other 2.2 times or so is HBM4 itself getting more expensive from 2026 to 2027.
Micron has said its 2027 HBM is priced significantly higher than 2026 without giving a figure. Samsung's reported ask puts a number on it: the same HBM4 stack at more than twice this year's price.