---
title: "HBM suppliers · HBM3e share and the memory bottleneck under AI · Agent Fieldbook"
url: https://agentfieldbook.org/hardware/hbm/
description: "High-bandwidth memory is the deepest bottleneck under the agent stack. HBM3e supplier share, source-graded. A field book to the scarcest input stacked onto every frontier AI accelerator."
section: "Compute · HBM"
source: Agent Fieldbook — generated from the published page
---

# HBM3e supplier share

**SK Hynix (HBM) · ~62% HBM3E · Micron (HBM) · ~21% HBM · Samsung (HBM) · HBM3E in AMD MI350; cleared NVIDIA qualification Sept 2025**

High-bandwidth memory is the deepest bottleneck under the agent stack, share by supplier.

## HBM suppliers in the network · in the supply-chain network

## Common questions

### What is HBM and why does it matter for AI?

HBM is high-bandwidth memory: DRAM chips stacked vertically and placed right beside the processor, connected by a very wide interface. It matters because large AI models are limited by how fast their weights can be moved, not by raw maths. Without HBM the compute units sit idle waiting for data.

### Who makes HBM?

Three companies make it in volume: SK hynix, Samsung and Micron. That short list is why memory supply, rather than chip design, often decides how many AI accelerators actually reach the market.

### What is HBM3e?

HBM3e is the current high-volume generation of high-bandwidth memory, with more bandwidth and capacity per stack than HBM3 before it. It is the memory paired with today's leading AI accelerators.

### Why is there an HBM shortage?

Every accelerator vendor is competing for output from the same three suppliers. Yields are difficult, capacity takes years to add, and the advanced packaging that bonds the memory to the processor is separately constrained. Supply is typically committed well ahead of production.

## Next in the learning path

- [Chips The accelerators HBM is stacked onto](https://agentfieldbook.org/hardware/chips/)

- [Foundries The other scarce input: leading-edge fabrication](https://agentfieldbook.org/hardware/foundries/)

- [Inference The throughput this bandwidth enables](https://agentfieldbook.org/hardware/inference/)

- [Cloud & Infra Where the memory-fed chips are rented](https://agentfieldbook.org/hardware/cloud_infra/)

- [Power The energy ceiling above the silicon](https://agentfieldbook.org/hardware/power/)

## Data

- [hbm.json](https://agentfieldbook.org/data/hbm.json)

Licensed [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).