By Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics customers have praised the differentiated competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, or HBM4,
saying "Samsung is back", co-CEO and chip chief Jun Young-hyun said in a New Year address.
Shares of Samsung Electronics rose as much as 3.8% in morning trade, outpacing the benchmark KOSPI's 1.1% rise.
In October, Samsung said it was in "close discussion" to supply its HBM4 to U.S. artificial intelligence leader Nvidia, as the South Korean chipmaker scrambles to catch rivals including compatriot SK Hynix in AI chips.
"On HBM4 in particular, customers have even stated that 'Samsung is back'," Jun said in remarks reviewed by Reuters, adding that the company still had work to do to further improve competitiveness.
Turning to its foundry business, which manufactures chips designed by customers, Jun said recent supply deals with major global customers had left the foundry business "primed for a great leap forward."
In July, Samsung Electronics signed a $16.5 billion deal with Tesla.
In a separate address, Samsung Electronics' co-CEO TM Roh, who also heads the company's device experience division overseeing its mobile phone, TV and home appliance businesses, warned that 2026 was expected to bring greater uncertainty and risks, citing rising component prices and global tariff barriers.
"To position ourselves to maintain a competitive advantage in any situation, we will reinforce our core competitiveness through proactive supply chain diversification and optimisation of global operations to address issues like component sourcing and pricing, and global tariff risks," Roh said.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing and Kate Mayberry)
