**Keynote Speech at ‘Semicon Korea 2025’**
Forecast for this year’s HBM revenue to grow by 67% YoY
HBM’s share of total DRAM revenue estimated at 30% by 2028
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On February 19th, Song Jae-hyuk, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Device Solutions Division at Samsung Electronics, is delivering a keynote speech at the ‘Semicon Korea 2025’ held in COEX, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
According to Kim Min-ji from the Herald Economy, this year’s semiconductor market is expected to be driven by AI (artificial intelligence) high value-added products, including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). On February 19th, ‘Semicon Korea 2025,’ the largest semiconductor exhibition in the country, was held. In his keynote speech, Song Jae-hyuk emphasized the importance of semiconductor technology, highlighting the need for solid collaboration to create a better life for all humanity.
During the keynote speech at ‘Semicon Korea 2025’ held at COEX, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Song stated, “Even with tremendous advancements in AI over the past 80 years, it still has much to learn compared to the human brain, which evolved over 3.4 billion years.” He added, “To reach the goal of ‘the human brain,’ AI needs to improve performance while reducing power consumption, for which semiconductors are crucial.”
He continued, “For major technologies of the post-AI era, such as autonomous vehicles, fast technology, quantum computing, humanoid robots, and bio, semiconductors are essential.” He stated, “A better life for all humanity can be achieved through collaboration in the semiconductor industry.” He emphasized that “Semicon Korea is not just a simple event but a place contributing to creating a happier life for the next generation of humanity.”
Semicon Korea is the largest semiconductor industry exhibition in the country. This year, it is being held on the largest scale ever, with approximately 500 companies showcasing advanced technologies at 2,301 booths.
Just like previous years, this year’s semiconductor market is expected to be led by high-value-added memory including HBM and AI accelerators like GPUs. The recovery of the analog semiconductor market, which was sluggish last year, also suggests another year of potential double-digit growth.
At the ‘Semicon Korea 2025’ press conference on the same day, Gaurav Gupta, a vice president at Gartner, stated, “Last year’s semiconductor market increased by 18.1% in terms of sales” and cited two factors for the growth: ▷ the rise in memory prices ▷ increased demand for AI semiconductors. He foresaw another 12.7% growth this year, predicting that not only GPUs and AI processors, which led last year’s growth, but also analog semiconductors will grow. Gupta predicted that the global semiconductor market would exceed $1 trillion in 2030-2031.
According to Gartner, the average selling prices (ASP) for DRAM and NAND flash last year grew by more than 50% compared to the previous year.
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**Image Description**: Gaurav Gupta, a vice president of Gartner, is presenting a forecast on the semiconductor market at the ‘Semicon Korea 2025’ press conference held on February 19. (Photo by Kim Min-ji)
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Especially spearheading the growth in the memory market, last year’s annual growth rate for HBM revenue was 318.5%, expanding more than four times compared to the previous year. This year’s growth rate is expected to be 66.9%; however, growth from next year onward is projected to decrease with 22% in 2026, 8% in 2027, and 21.3% in 2028.
Gupta analyzed that “due to the cyclical nature of the memory semiconductor market, a revenue decline in the DRAM market is expected in 2027-2028,” and HBM will also be affected.
He projected that the revenue share of HBM within the entire DRAM market will increase to 30.6% by 2028, indicating that as the technology of major suppliers matures, they will focus on improving yield and likely increase stacking from 8 layers to 16 layers, and eventually to 20 layers.
The NAND market, which struggled last year, is expected to rebound in the second half of this year.
Gupta expressed that “although NAND faced challenges last year due to decreased PC and smartphone demand, prices are expected to remain low until the first quarter of this year. However, as supply decreases, prices will rebound in the second half, and overall revenue this year is expected to increase compared to last year.”
Nevertheless, Chinese NAND companies are anticipated to continue increasing supply despite price drops.
He noted, “Despite supply cuts by major companies, China’s YMTC is increasing production and expects to grow by more than last year’s 50% increase.”
The foundry market is expected to continue its growth driven by TSMC leadership.
He forecasted that “foundry revenue is projected to maintain double-digit growth last year and this year as companies strengthen advanced packaging,” adding, “Outside TSMC in the cutting-edge process, Samsung and Intel will continue to struggle, and Chinese companies will play a leading role in the mature process.”
Meanwhile, marking its 26th year, Semicon Korea 2025 is held under the theme of ‘Lead the Edge’ from February 19 to 21 at COEX, Seoul. Over 70,000 participants are expected, with more than 200 experts representing the semiconductor industry taking part as speakers at over 30 conferences. A variety of global design and chip maker companies including AMD, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, GlobalFoundries, Kioxia, as well as major semiconductor material and equipment companies such as ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, TEL, and KLA, will gather in one place.