What is high bandwidth memory and why is the US trying to block China’s access to it?

Wayne Chang and Rosa de Acosta

Source Link

The US government has imposed fresh export controls on the sale of high tech memory chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications to China.

The rules apply to US-made high bandwidth memory (HBM) technology as well as foreign-produced ones.

Here’s everything you need to know about these cutting-edge semiconductors, which have seen demand soar along with the global frenzy for AI.

What is high bandwidth memory?

High bandwidth memory (HBM) are basically a stack of memory chips, small components that store data. They can store more information and transmit data more quickly than the older technology, called DRAM (dynamic random access memory).

HBM chips are commonly used in graphic cards, high-performance computing systems, data centers and autonomous vehicles.

Most importantly, they are indispensable to running increasingly popular AI applications, including generative AI, which are powered by AI processors, such as the graphic processing units (GPU) produced by Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).