Samsung HBM4 Chips Priced at $700 Per Unit

[Samsung](https://startupintros.com/orgs/samsung) priced its HBM4 (High Bandwidth Memory) chips at approximately $700 per unit in February 2026, setting the benchmark for next-generation AI memory pricing. HBM4 is the critical memory technology powering AI training GPUs from NVIDIA, AMD, and others — without it, the massive language models driving the AI boom simply cannot run.

The $700 price point represents a significant premium over HBM3e, reflecting both the technology's complexity and Samsung's bet that AI infrastructure spending shows no signs of slowing. Samsung is locked in an intense competition with SK Hynix, which currently dominates NVIDIA's HBM supply chain. Winning — or losing — the HBM4 generation could shift billions in semiconductor revenue between the two Korean chipmakers.

For AI startups, HBM pricing directly impacts the cost of training and inference. Every dollar added to memory costs flows through to GPU pricing, cloud compute rates, and ultimately the unit economics of AI products. The HBM4 generation will determine whether AI infrastructure costs continue rising or start to plateau.