From a Korean blogger who keeps a close watch on memory companies as they are so important to the S. Korean economy--
Finally, memory companies are colluding to limit supply. This is a welcome development. An executive at Samsung Semiconductor stated, “Korean companies, too, have learned their own lessons about how to navigate a super-boom cycle,” adding, “In the past, many companies repeated the vicious cycle of overinvesting in equipment during a boom ? oversupply ? price collapse. In fact, since Samsung Electronics has the largest ‘scale’ in the memory industry, the cost of maintaining its invested facilities is enormous, so the company is taking an extremely conservative approach.”
SK Hynix, despite holding a dominant position in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, is also proceeding with facility investments as conservatively as possible. In particular, it has been cautious in placing orders for essential equipment such as TC bonders. Some analysts attribute this to Nvidia’s move to diversify its HBM suppliers from the sixth generation (HBM4) onward — adding Samsung Electronics and Micron alongside SK Hynix — but others believe the company is also mindful of the potential risk of HBM oversupply."
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