Nvidia Corporation saw its stock price increase by approximately 1% in Thursday's premarket session, trading around $191.87. This upward movement coincided with an announcement from Samsung Electronics confirming the commencement of shipments for its advanced HBM4 high-bandwidth memory chips. These components are essential for the performance of Nvidia's artificial intelligence accelerator products.
Supply Chain and Competitive Dynamics
Samsung's memory division reported positive initial customer reception for the HBM4 chips, which are manufactured using advanced 1c DRAM and 4nm logic processes. The company highlighted data transfer speeds reaching 11.7 gigabits per second, with potential for 13 Gbps. Concurrently, industry reports suggest TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is developing its own AI chip and has engaged in supply discussions with Samsung, though ByteDance has disputed these claims. The HBM market remains constrained, with high demand creating supply shortages.
Regulatory Hurdles in China
Nvidia faces ongoing challenges from U.S. export regulations governing semiconductor sales to China. Commerce officials have emphasized that the company must adhere to detailed licensing terms, specifically crafted with the State Department, for products like its H200 chips. Congressional sentiment appears divided, with some lawmakers open to exports of older-generation Hopper chips but firmly opposed to shipping newer Rubin or Blackwell architectures to Chinese entities, citing national security concerns.
Separately, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported robust January revenue of roughly NT$401.26 billion, a significant 36.8% increase from the previous year. This figure is widely viewed as an indicator of strong underlying demand for AI-related semiconductors across the supply chain.
Further evidence of AI infrastructure expansion comes from Vertiv Holdings, which reported its quarterly backlog surged 109% year-over-year to $15.0 billion, driven by demand for data center power and cooling solutions needed to support GPU-intensive servers.
Nvidia is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter financial results on February 25. Analysts anticipate management commentary on AI data-center demand trends, memory supply conditions, and developments regarding the China licensing landscape.
