[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 is determined not only by DRAM manufacturing capabilities but also by 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. On this day, Chairman Lee visited the C1 and C2 lines at the Cheonan plant to receive briefings on the facility’s operational status, production plans, and the progress of technology development. Wearing a cleanroom suit, Chairman Lee toured the HBM packaging production line to assess the current state of production and quality competitiveness. Notably, this day marked Chairman Lee’s 58th birthday; instead of holding a separate celebration, he visited the semiconductor production site to demonstrate his commitment to strengthening HBM competitiveness—a core business in the AI era.

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

Previously, in December of last year, Chairman Lee visited “NRD-K,” a next-generation semiconductor research and development (R&D) complex built by SamsungElectronics at its Giheung Campus on an unprecedented scale, as well as the Hwaseong Campus. He toured key research bases in the semiconductor sector—including memory and system semiconductors—to review the status of R&D. At the time, Chairman Lee urged, “Let’s restore our fundamental technological competitiveness through bold innovation and investment.”

Chairman Lee discussed global trends and future strategies in the cutting-edge semiconductor industry with key executives from the semiconductor business. He also held a roundtable discussion with employees from R&D, manufacturing, and quality control who contributed to the commercialization of cutting-edge semiconductor products—such as HBM, 10-nanometer-class 6th-generation (1c) DRAM, and V10 NAND flash—and took the time to listen to the opinions of frontline staff.

It appears that Chairman Lee visited semiconductor facilities in person both late last year and this year to bolster the HBM business, which is rapidly regaining its competitiveness. 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 expected to experience steep growth in the future 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 the performance of SamsungElectronics’ semiconductor business.

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

SamsungElectronics’ HBM4 utilizes the company’s 10-nanometer-class 6th-generation (1c) DRAM process on the core die. By applying a 4-nanometer logic process to the base die, it combines the company’s memory and foundry technical capabilities, leveraging Samsung’s competitive edge in “one-stop solution” manufacturing.

In addition to his site visits, Chairman Lee is actively engaging with global big tech companies and achieving significant, wide-ranging results in new business areas such as AI, semiconductors, and automotive electronics.