[News] Samsung Drops Q2 Guidance Amid Tariff Woes, Reportedly Preps for NVIDIA’s Final HBM3E Test in June

Samsung Electronics reported a slight rise in first-quarter operating profit on Wednesday, as tariff-driven demand for smartphones and commodity chips helped offset weakness in its AI chip business, according to Reuters. However, it seems to remain cautious on potential tariff impacts, as it reportedly drops Q2 guidance.

As highlighted by Reuters, the company posted an operating profit of 6.7 trillion won ($4.68 billion) for the quarter ended in March, marking a 1.2% increase from a year earlier and closely matching its earlier estimate of 6.6 trillion won.

Notably, Samsung Electronics stated that second-quarter performance remains uncertain due to rising external risks, including tariff concerns and a slowing economy, but it will continue to pursue various efforts, as noted by Business Korea.

Business Korea points out that Samsung’s memory business intends to enhance its operations by meeting early demand for 12-layer HBM3E products and concentrating on high-capacity memory for servers. It also plans to accelerate the shift to 8th generation V-NAND, the report adds.

One of the most critical issues facing Samsung’s memory business may be passing NVIDIA’s quality testing. According to South Korean media outlet TheElec, Samsung’s HBM3E is reported to undergo final evaluation by NVIDIA in June, in a bid to secure a place in the company’s supply chain. If it meets the required standards, Samsung could move forward to the delivery phase.

Samsung passed NVIDIA’s audit conducted at its Onyang campus in March, meeting the GPU giant’s minimum HBM requirements, according to TheElec, citing sources.

NVIDIA’s latest AI accelerators primarily use 12-layer HBM3E memory, with the majority of supply currently sourced from SK hynix, as TheElec notes.

In addition, Samsung is actively pushing ahead with its HBM4 project, with plans to launch in the second half of this year, as noted by TheElec.

Read more

• [News] Samsung Reportedly Phasing Out HBM2E as Focus Shifts to HBM3E and HBM4
• [News] Samsung Reportedly Achieves Stable 40%+ Test Yield for 4nm Logic Die, Accelerating HBM4 12-High Development

(Photo credit: Samsung)