[Edaily SOYEON KIM Reporter Song Jae-min] SamsungElectronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the Cheonan plant in South Chungcheong Province on the 23rd to inspect the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production facility. Chairman Lee is bolstering the HBM business—which is seen as a future growth engine for SamsungElectronics—and personally overseeing the next-generation memory business, a key competitive advantage in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

The Cheonan plant, which Chairman Lee visited, is a key production hub responsible for SamsungElectronics’ HBM back-end processes and advanced packaging. For HBM, product competitiveness depends not only on DRAM manufacturing capabilities but also on back-end process technologies such as through-silicon via (TSV) stacking, packaging, and thermal management. The Cheonan plant plays a central role in expanding HBM production capacity to meet the growing AI semiconductor market.

As SamsungElectronics accelerates its push into the next-generation HBM market, the Cheonan plant is serving as the linchpin of HBM production. During his visit, Chairman Lee toured the C1 and C2 lines at the Cheonan plant and received briefings on the facility’s operational status, production plans, and the progress of technology development. He then donned a cleanroom suit and toured the HBM packaging production line to assess the current state of production and quality competitiveness.

Business circles view this visit as signifying more than just a routine on-site inspection. It is seen as a move to reaffirm the company’s commitment to strengthening the competitiveness of its HBM business, which is central to semiconductor competition in the AI era. It is interpreted as sending a message to boost morale among R&D and manufacturing staff while accelerating efforts to enhance HBM competitiveness. As SamsungElectronics secures its technological edge in HBM and expands its market share, Chairman Lee personally visited the production site to encourage the R&D and manufacturing teams.

Last February, SamsungElectronics became the first in the world to successfully begin mass production and shipment of 6th-generation HBM4, positioning itself to lead the next-generation HBM market. Subsequently, in May, the company accelerated its push into the AI memory market by supplying samples of the 12-layer HBM4E—the world’s first 7th-generation product—to global customers.

The memory market is also experiencing rapid growth driven by the spread of AI. According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, the global memory market is projected to expand from 360 trillion won last year to 1,500 trillion won this year, and further grow to 2,100 trillion won next year. The share of server memory sales is expected to rise from 37% last year to 56% this year and reach 57% next year. As high-performance memory such as HBM and DDR5 drives market growth, HBM is expected to play a key role in boosting SamsungElectronics’ semiconductor business performance.

Driven by growing demand for HBM, SamsungElectronics is also showing significant growth in its business performance. According to industry sources, SamsungElectronics’ HBM4, which began mass production shipments last February, reportedly surpassed $1 billion (approximately 1.538 trillion won) in cumulative sales in just about four months, and cumulative sales are projected to exceed $1.2 billion as of the end of June.