Samsung to More Than Double HBM4 Output in 2027 as Glass Carrier Orders Rise 2.5x
Samsung Electronics is on track to more than double production of its HBM4 and HBM4E high-bandwidth memory next year. The signal comes from outsourced glass carrier volumes: Samsung plans to increase cleaning throughput from 20,000 sheets per month this year to 50,000 sheets per month in 2027, a 2.5x rise. Glass carriers hold HBM wafers in place while they are ground thin and drilled for through-silicon vias, and the volume directly tracks how many chips are moving through the line.
Production trajectory
HBM glass carrier demand at Samsung has compounded sharply: 10,000 sheets per month as recently as 2025, 20,000 now, 50,000 projected for next year. Industry analysts note that glass carriers are reused after cleaning, so a 2.5x volume increase translates conservatively to at least 2x chip output after accounting for yield and process variation.
Overall HBM production at Samsung is expected to reach roughly 250,000 wafers per month next year, up from approximately 180,000 this year, a nearly 40% capacity increase. Within that total, the HBM4 family is projected to climb from around 40% of shipments today to about 80% in 2027 as HBM4E mass production ramps.
Product status
Samsung began mass-production shipments of HBM4 in February, built on 10-nanometer-class sixth-generation (1c) DRAM paired with a 4-nanometer base die. In May, the company sent 12-layer HBM4E samples to customers including Nvidia. HBM4E represents seventh-generation HBM and commands a price premium over HBM4, which itself costs roughly 2 million Korean won per chip, approximately double the price of HBM3E.
Why it matters
AI training and inference clusters are memory-bandwidth-constrained. Every major accelerator family from Nvidia, AMD, and Google TPUs uses HBM as the primary memory interface, and supply has been tight since 2024. A doubling of Samsung’s HBM4 output, timed for 2027, aligns with expected demand from Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin and Blackwell Ultra platforms.
SK Hynix retains a supply lead on HBM3E. Samsung’s aggressive HBM4 ramp is its attempt to close that gap at the next generation and secure allocation with hyperscale customers ahead of the 2027 procurement cycle.