Huawei and Baidu stockpile Samsung HBM chips as US export restrictions loom: report

Huawei has maintained its position among the top five global companies that made the highest R&D investments in 2022. Credit: 123rf

Chinese tech giants Huawei and Baidu, along with a range of startups in the country, are stockpiling high bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors from Samsung Electronics amid expected new US restrictions on chip exports to China, according to an exclusive Reuters report. Chinese companies have increased their purchases of AI-capable semiconductors since the beginning of this year, leading China to contribute about 30% of Samsung’s HBM chip revenue in the first half of 2024, sources said. Last week, the US Department of Commerce stated that it is continually updating export controls to protect national security and the technological ecosystem but declined to comment further on specifics related to HBM semiconductors. [Reuters]