Samsung Memory
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Memory Division)
Market Share
~40% DRAM, #1 NAND
Key Product
HBM3, DDR5, NAND flash
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Samsung is the world's largest DRAM and NAND flash memory manufacturer, with leading market positions in both segments. The company produces HBM3 and passed NVIDIA's HBM3E qualification in September 2025 — after multiple failed attempts — beginning shipments to Nvidia for GB300-class accelerators. Samsung's memory division supplies DRAM and NAND to virtually every major server, PC, and smartphone manufacturer. Its integrated model — combining memory design, manufacturing, and packaging — gives it significant cost advantages. Samsung lagged SK Hynix in HBM yield and qualification through 2024, losing share of the AI accelerator memory market, but secured NVIDIA's HBM3E qualification in September 2025 and has since sold out its 2026 HBM production. The company is investing heavily to close this gap, with new HBM4 development underway.
Connected companies
Tap a chip to trace that company's chain.
Critical path — raw silicon to deployment
The tightest single-source dependencies, in order.
EQUIPMENT
Kokusai Electric
Batch thermal ALD and CVD furnace systems
MATERIALS
Shin-Etsu Chemical
300mm silicon wafers and photoresist
MATERIALS
SUMCO
300mm and 200mm silicon wafers
MEMORY (HBM)
Samsung Memory
HBM3, DDR5, NAND flash
CHIP DESIGNERS
NVIDIA
H100, H200, Blackwell B200 GPUs
CHIP DESIGNERS
Marvell
OCTEON network processors, custom cloud AI ASICs, 400G/800G Ethernet PHYs
Export controls touching Samsung Memory
China Gallium & Germanium Export Controls (Aug 2023)
China's Ministry of Commerce and Customs implemented export licensing requirements for gallium and germanium products, effective August 1, 2023. The controls cover 8 gallium-related items (including gallium metal, gallium nitride, and gallium arsenide) and 6 germanium-related items (including germanium metal, germanium dioxide, and germanium epitaxial growth wafers). Exporters must apply to the Ministry of Commerce for licenses, which are reviewed for national security and non-proliferation considerations. China produces approximately 80% of the world's gallium and 60% of its germanium, making these controls a direct leverage point over semiconductor and compound-semiconductor supply chains globally.
▲ 13 companies affected
QWho supplies Samsung Memory?
Samsung Memory relies on 10 upstream suppliers across the AI chip supply chain.
Entegris (Critical process materials supplier: CMP slurries, ultra-high-purity chemical delivery, and wafer carriers), SCREEN Holdings (Leading wafer cleaning and surface treatment equipment maker (~20% global market share)), Kokusai Electric (Critical supplier of batch ALD and CVD furnace systems essential for NAND and DRAM production), Shin-Etsu Chemical (World's largest silicon wafer supplier), SUMCO (#2 global silicon wafer supplier; duopoly with Shin-Etsu controls ~55% of world supply), and 5 more.
QWhat does Samsung Memory make?
World's largest DRAM and NAND supplier, ramping HBM3
Key products HBM3, DDR5, NAND flash