SK hynix Taps TSMC 3nm for HBM4E to Block Samsung's Pursuit

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an 'AI-based customized news recommendation and summary service' developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items for each reader type.

1. "Overtaking Samsung Again"… SK-TSMC Strengthen 'HBM4 Alliance'

- Key Summary: SK hynix is pursuing technology development to double power efficiency compared to previous generations by applying TSMC's 3-nanometer process to the HBM4E base die. TSMC announced in its first-quarter earnings release that it would "expand 3nm production plans to meet AI demand," and SK hynix plans to apply its 6th-generation DRAM process (1c) to the core die as well, aiming to surpass Samsung Electronics in power-to-performance ratio. However, variables include the three-day one-way transit time for chip sample exchanges due to the physical distance between Korea and Taiwan, and the expectation that TSMC's 3nm production capacity shortage will continue through next year. Samsung Electronics seized the initiative with the first mass production and shipment of HBM4, but SK hynix has completed redesign of the HBM4 base die and is preparing to ship quality products in the second half, rekindling the technology competition between the two companies.

2. IMF: "Korean Financial Institutions at Risk of Fallout from U.S. Private Credit Risk"

- Key Summary: The IMF, in its Global Financial Stability Report, included Korea as the only emerging market country separately identified as a funding source for U.S. NBFIs, and the exclusion of other major emerging markets such as Brazil and India is interpreted as indicating substantial U.S. NBFI exposure among Korean financial institutions. As of end-2024, Korea's NBFI assets reached 6,213 trillion won, approximately 2.4 times nominal GDP, and private credit fund investments by securities firms, insurers, and pension funds exceeded 60 trillion won. The global private credit market is approximately $2.15 trillion, having grown nearly tenfold over a decade, and cases of distress and bankruptcy among mid-sized U.S. companies dependent on private credit continue to emerge. The IMF recommended strengthening NBFI supervision, closing data gaps, and reviewing liquidity response frameworks, while Hyun Song Shin, nominee for Bank of Korea Governor, said at his confirmation hearing that he would explore ways to strengthen the role of responding to non-bank finance.

3. Asian Tankers Line Up from the Cape of Good Hope to Just Off the U.S.

- Key Summary: With Middle East crude supply cut off due to the U.S.-Iran war, Asian demand for U.S. crude jumped approximately 82% year-on-year to about 2.5 million barrels last month, and very large crude carriers (VLCCs) heading to the Gulf of Mexico recently surged to 70 vessels, more than 2.5 times the average of 27 vessels last year. Countries highly dependent on Middle East crude—Korea (about 70%), Japan (about 90%), China (about 40%), and Taiwan (about 70%)—have entered the race to secure U.S. crude, and U.S. crude exports from the 6th to 10th of this month reached 5.225 million barrels, jumping 26% in one week. "If exports expand and crude supply-demand becomes unstable, domestic fuel prices in the U.S. will rise further," said Richard Bronze, analyst at Energy Aspects, and Reuters projected that at the current pace, the U.S. could become an annual net exporter of crude for the first time since 1943. Analysts say that diversifying crude supply chains and reviewing procurement strategies in preparation for rising energy costs are necessary.

4. Samsung's 300 Trillion Won Operating Profit Thanks to Semiconductor Super Cycle… Union Insists on 580 Million Won 'Lottery Bonus'

- Key Summary: The financial investment industry projects Samsung Electronics' operating profit to reach approximately 300 trillion won this year as general-purpose DRAM prices surged tenfold from last year amid the AI investment boom. The Supra-Enterprise Union is demanding 15% of operating profit be paid as performance bonuses, which would amount to 580 million won per memory semiconductor employee, totaling 45 trillion won. An industry official noted that this year's profits are largely due to the fortune of the super cycle, and if the union's demand is met, the bonus payout would be more than four times the shareholder dividend (11.1 trillion won) and 7 trillion won more than R&D investment. The union has threatened to refuse agreed work and has firmly set a general strike for May 21, and management is being called on to review risk scenarios considering the possibility that labor-management conflict could lead to production disruptions and impaired investment capacity.