Next-generation AI memory based on NAND Samsung to unveil zHBF technology in Taiwan next month Expanding 3D memory after zHBM SK and SanDisk race to set the standard
사진 확대 Samsung Electronics’ zHBM mockup. Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics is moving to secure a foothold in the HBF (High Bandwidth Flash) market, which is emerging as the next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) memory. After recently unveiling its next-generation 3D memory, zHBM, the company has also filed a trademark for zHBF, signaling an effort to secure its own technology and brand in next-generation AI memory based not only on DRAM but also on NAND flash memory. The AI memory competition that began around HBM is rapidly expanding into HBF.
According to industry sources on the 27th, Samsung Electronics recently filed a trademark for zHBF. The move comes before the company has disclosed any specific product structure or performance details for zHBF.
Unlike HBM, which stacks DRAM vertically, HBF is a next-generation memory that layers NAND flash memory to deliver both large capacity and high data transfer speeds. It is seen as a new memory tier that bridges the performance and capacity gap between HBM and solid-state drives (SSD).
As the AI market rapidly expands from training to inference, the need for HBF is also growing.
That is because as AI models grow larger and the amount of data they must process surges, there are limits to securing the required memory capacity with expensive HBM alone. By using high-capacity NAND and supplying data faster than SSDs, HBF is designed to reduce memory bottlenecks in AI accelerators.
The first HBF standard released this month by SK hynix and SanDisk Corporation also defines HBF as a new memory tier between HBM and SSDs. The maximum capacity was set at 512 gigabytes (GB), while bandwidth was defined at roughly 0.4 to 3.0 terabytes per second (TB/s), depending on the class.
Samsung Electronics’ next-generation 3D memory card before zHBF is zHBM. Earlier this month, the company unveiled the industry’s first zHBM concept model at FMS (The Future of Memory and Storage) 2026 in Santa Clara, California.
zHBM departs from the conventional approach of placing HBM beside an AI accelerator. Instead, it uses a next-generation structure that vertically stacks memory above the accelerator. The idea is to shorten the physical distance between the computing unit and memory, reducing latency and power consumption during data transfer.
In other words, competition in AI semiconductors is shifting beyond the performance of individual chips to how computing units and memory are arranged and connected.
The key question now is what kind of vertical structure Samsung Electronics will apply to zHBF after zHBM. So far, the company has not disclosed the structure or specifications of zHBF. Experts say it is difficult to conclude from the trademark filing alone that it will use the same or a similar vertical stacking structure as zHBM.
Samsung Electronics may reveal the blueprint and outline of its zHBF technology at SEMICON Taiwan 2026, which opens in Taiwan next month.
According to the event’s official program, Choi Jang-seok, head of new business planning at Samsung Electronics’ memory division, will deliver a keynote speech under the theme, “Powering the AI Era with 3D Integration.” The organizers listed “zHBM, zHBF and 3D package” as the key technologies to be covered in the presentation.
As Samsung Electronics puts zHBM and zHBF at the forefront alongside 3D packaging, the key point to watch is whether zHBF has also been designed to improve data transfer efficiency by narrowing the physical distance between AI accelerators and NAND-based memory. If the company reveals the detailed structure, its next-generation AI memory strategy is expected to become much clearer.
Competitors are already moving quickly to secure the HBF ecosystem.
SK hynix and SanDisk Corporation agreed in August last year to cooperate on standardizing HBF technology. In February this year, they formed a joint working group under the Open Compute Project (OCP), the world’s largest open data center technology consortium.
사진 확대 zHBF, which Samsung Electronics recently filed as a trademark. KIPRIS
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.