Counterpoint says 12-high stacks will dominate HBM4 for NVIDIA's Vera Rubin, pushing back on 'lower stack' concerns (report)

What happened

Market research firm Counterpoint Research estimated on October 9 that 12-high products will make up most of the HBM4 used in NVIDIA's next-generation GPU, Vera Rubin. Recent media reports said NVIDIA had asked HBM suppliers to lower the main specification from 12-high to 8-high, and some estimated that ASIC makers could go as low as 4-high. Counterpoint said "4-high products have not been confirmed even for ASICs," and expects HBM content per chip to keep rising because bandwidth and capacity matter more than cost savings for AI workloads.

Provider claims

12-high will be the mainstream for HBM4; no 4-high products for ASICs have been confirmed (Counterpoint Research estimate)

Why it matters

There had been concerns that lower HBM stack counts would reduce HBM production capacity and increase supply of general-purpose DRAM, potentially pushing prices down. This outlook offers a counterargument for reading the earnings outlook of memory makers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, as well as the AI accelerator supply chain. However, it is an estimate from a market research firm, not an official confirmation from NVIDIA.

Sources

• Press "엔비디아 루빈 HBM4, 12단이 대세" ZDNet Korea