SK hynix has overhauled its research and development (R&D) system to center on artificial intelligence (AI) to break through technology limits and unveiled its "HBM BTS" strategy aimed at the customized customer market. After Samsung Electronics declared a return to "Samsung of technology," speeding up the chase, SK hynix made clear its determination to defend its lead by pushing AI-based maximization of R&D efficiency and unrivaled packaging solutions.
Vice President Lee Seong-hoon, head of process R&D at SK hynix, declared a paradigm shift to an AI-based R&D system in a keynote at "Semicon Korea 2026" on the 11th at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul. Lee said, "Over the next 10 years, technology will hit its limits and we will face development difficulties we have not experienced before," emphasizing the need to move away from labor-intensive methods and maximize time efficiency.
In practice, SK hynix is actively using AI for materials discovery. Lee said, "If we replace the materials search work that previously required about 200 people over two years with AI, we can cut the search period to one-four-hundredth," citing "cadence"—timely market launches of new products—as a core competitiveness.
In packaging, the "HBM BTS" concept tailored to customers' segmented needs was presented. Vice President Lee Kang-wook, head of package development at SK hynix, said at the AI Summit the same day that the company devised HBM solutions specialized by performance, including B (Bandwidth), T (Thermal dissipation), and S (Space efficiency). As next-generation products such as HBM4E and HBM5 advance, customer-specific specialized demands are increasing, and the company aims to respond proactively.
For stacking technology, the company indicated it will use its proprietary "MR-MUF" up to 16 layers, while fully introducing "hybrid bonding" for ultra-high stacking products of 20 layers or more. Lee projected, "To implement products with 20 layers or more within the specified height standard (775um), at some point hybrid bonding technology will be essential."
◇ Samsung's "comprehensive semiconductor synergy" vs. SK's "HBM No. 1 defense" showdown
Semicon Korea 2026 heated up as a pride match between the two domestic chipmakers. As Samsung Electronics, through CTO Song Jai-hyuk, declared a "technology comeback," signaling confidence in innovation in a combined "system architecture" of memory, foundry, and packaging and in feedback on HBM4, SK hynix countered with practical R&D innovation cases and a packaging roadmap that underpins its No. 1 market share (57% as of the third quarter of last year).
The industry views that since both companies have succeeded in building mass production systems for the next-generation HBM4, the deciding factors ahead will be the stable adoption of leading-edge processes such as hybrid bonding and how precisely they satisfy the increasingly fragmented, customized demands of global big tech clients.