By Adam Clark

Samsung Electronics stock gained on Monday following a report that it will start large-scale production of the next generation of high-bandwidth memory chips as soon as this month. That lays down a challenge to American rival Micron Technology.

Samsung will begin mass production of the new high-bandwidth memory chips, known as HBM4, later this month for use in artificial-intelligence processors made by Nvidia, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Sunday, citing industry sources.

Samsung didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Barron's early on Monday. Its shares rose 4.9% in local trading.

Micron is the chief rival of South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix in making HBM chips, which are crucial for the latest AI chips. Surging demand for HBM chips, which carry higher margins than typical memory components, has been a big part of the reason Micron's share price has more than quadrupled in the past 12 months.

Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are all jockeying for position to supply HBM chips to Nvidia and other AI chip makers. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts in the company's most recent earnings call the company was set to ramp up its own HBM4 production in the second quarter of 2026.

However, demand is so high that Wall Street analysts generally estimate that Micron can sustain the 20%-25% market share in the HBM market it took last year.

"All major AI accelerator vendors [are] converging on a full three-supplier sourcing strategy rather than, in some cases, relying heavily on only two suppliers," wrote UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri in a recent research note.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2026 03:34 ET (08:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.