▲AI PRISM* Customized Economic Briefing
*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.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Memory Innovation: Samsung Electronics has unveiled 'zHBM,' a three-dimensional (3D) structure that stacks high-bandwidth memory (HBM) on top of a graphics processing unit (GPU), the world's first, moving to resolve the data bottleneck in AI chips. Meanwhile, a forecast has emerged that Korea will maintain its position as the top powerhouse in the memory chip market through 2031, as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix (000660) lead the competition in next-generation memory technology.
■ Big Tech Debt: Among the long-term data center lease contracts of the five largest U.S. big tech companies—Alphabet, Microsoft (MS), Amazon, Meta, and Oracle—the portion not yet recognized as debt has reached $1.09 trillion. This is about four times the lease debt already reflected in financial statements, showing how the investment race driven by expanding artificial intelligence (AI) demand is turning into a financial burden.
■ Supply Chain War: The United States has issued a series of export controls to exclude China from advanced supply chains including AI data center components, robots, and solar and semiconductor materials, while China has responded with export controls on drone components. Meanwhile, China is pursuing a strategy to secure leadership in technology standards by exporting not only products but also manufacturing platforms such as the industrial internet.
[News of Interest to Corporate CEOs]
1. HBM on Top of GPU: Samsung Breaks AI Chip Limits
- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics (005930) unveiled 'zHBM' and 'z-NAND-O,' next-generation memory architectures (design structures) that vertically stack high-bandwidth memory (HBM) on top of a graphics processing unit (GPU), at 'FMS 2026' held in the United States. zHBM is a technology that resolves the data bottleneck previously caused by the physical distance between the GPU and HBM in conventional AI accelerators, and when mass-produced, its performance is expected to improve by up to eight times compared to the eighth-generation HBM5. Kim Kyung-ryun, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics' DRAM Development Division, said, "Samsung is back," expressing confidence in the technological capability that broke the Memory Wall. Samsung Electronics also unveiled 'z-NAND-O,' optimized for on-device AI, and 'V10 BV-NAND,' a 10th-generation V-NAND stacked more than 400 layers.
2. Samsung, SK Push Ahead with CXL as U.S., China, Japan Wage All-Out Battle to Replace HBM
- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics and SK hynix (000660) are accelerating the development of 'processing-in-memory (PIM),' which integrates memory and computing functions, and 'Compute Express Link (CXL),' which boosts connection speed, moving beyond HBM. Samsung Electronics unveiled the industry's first 'low-power double data rate (LPDDR)5X-PIM' and plans to introduce it in detail at the 'Hot Chips' conference to be held in the United States next month. U.S.-based Micron, Japan's Kioxia, Intel, and Qualcomm are also stepping up with their own technologies to shift the HBM paradigm, intensifying competition. China's CXMT is also chasing Korean companies by pursuing mass production of next-generation DRAM.
3. Big Tech's 'Hidden Debt' Approaches $100 Billion
- Key Summary: Among the long-term lease contracts signed by the five largest U.S. big tech companies—Alphabet (Google's parent), Microsoft (MS), Amazon, Meta, and Oracle—to secure data centers, the portion not yet recognized as debt has reached $1.09 trillion (about 1,560 trillion won). This is about four times the $285 billion in lease debt already reflected in financial statements. Under accounting standards, lease debt is recognized from the point when a facility begins operation, so data centers not yet in operation are not yet included in debt and are disclosed only in footnotes. By company, Oracle's unstarted leases amount to $260 billion, about seven times its current lease debt, making its financial burden the largest.
[Reference News for Corporate CEOs]
- Key Summary: Chinese companies are expanding their 'baotuan chuhai' (抱團出海, "going abroad in groups") strategy, exporting not only products but also manufacturing platforms such as the industrial internet (smart factories). As China's export price index fell from 114.5 in 2022 to 99 in 2024, worsening profitability, they are seen as seeking to shift their profit structure through platform exports. Chinese construction equipment maker XCMG has exported its industrial internet 'Hanyun' (漢雲) to Kazakhstan, Brazil, and others after selling excavators, generating continuous revenue through remote management services. According to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the added value of industries applying the industrial internet has risen 28.4% over four years, and analysts say China is seeking to expand its leadership in global technology standards through this.
5. From AIDC and Robots to Solar Materials: U.S. 'Erasing China' from Advanced Supply Chains
- Key Summary: The United States is issuing a series of export controls to exclude China from advanced supply chains including AI data center components, robots, and solar and semiconductor materials. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is preparing legislation to ban imports of Chinese-made optical transceivers, and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reviewing price floors and tariffs on solar panels and 'polysilicon,' a semiconductor material. Last month, import bans on foreign-made power inverters and humanoid robots, as well as 'forced labor tariffs,' also began to be imposed. In response, China has launched countermeasures by strictly reviewing exports of its domestic drone components and related technologies to the U.S., spreading the supply chain conflict between the two countries.
6. "Korea to Remain Memory Powerhouse Through 2031"
- Key Summary: Global semiconductor market research firm Yole Group forecast that Korea will maintain its position as the top player in the global memory chip market through 2031. Josephine Lau, an analyst at Yole Group, noted that the Korean government is pursuing a plan to double wafer production within five years, and that aggressive investment by Samsung Electronics (005930) and SK hynix (000660) continues. Amid the U.S.-China semiconductor hegemony competition, the market landscape is being reshaped, with the U.S. share of memory chip consumption rising from 37% in 2021 to 52% last year, while China's fell from 35% to 29%. Meanwhile, Nvidia's HBM market share is expected to fall to around 58% this year as big tech expands adoption of its own application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
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