Nvidia's supplier makes 'semiconductor-shaped' chips that are crunchy and goes with beer

"HBM chips", or Honey Banana Mat -- Korean for "flavour" snack, a nod to South Korea's semiconductor giant SK hynix's top-selling high-bandwidth memory semiconductors. (Image credit: AFP)

South Korea's semiconductor giant SK Hynix has made a foray into a new genre of chips -- the kind that's crunchy and goes with a beer.

Packing 385 calories a bag, the company's new "HBM chips" snack is a nod to its top-selling high-bandwidth memory semiconductors, in great demand to power AI systems.

But in this case, the acronym stands for Honey Banana Mat -- Korean for "flavour".

The "semiconductor-shaped" chips are an "initiative to bring semiconductors closer to everyday life and make the public feel more familiar with them," an SK Hynix official told AFP on Thursday.

The supplier to US giant Nvidia made the world's first HBM semiconductors in 2013, and remains one of the biggest manufacturer of the product.

The group, which described its latest offering as "a blend of technological form and sensory flavour", said the snack is a collaboration with 7-Eleven which began selling them in their convenience stores this week.

Rival Samsung Electronics had also ventured into quirky food items that generated buzz, with a limited-edition "QD Ramen" in 2022 to mark its quantum-dot OLED panels.

However, the QD Ramen was only handed out to employees and not sold in stores.

Meanwhile, in a India-related development, SK Hynix has firmly denied reports that it has entered preliminary discussions to identify an Indian partner for setting up a memory semiconductor assembly and testing facility in the country.

“SK Hynix has never met with ASP or officials from the state of Odisha, nor have we engaged in any related discussions,” a company spokesperson told Moneycontrol in a statement.

“As a global semiconductor company, we are continuously exploring business opportunities in various countries; however, we are not currently considering any investment in India,” the spokesperson added.

The clarification comes after a report in The Economic Times claimed the world’s second-largest memory producer was exploring a partnership with Noida-based ASP Sealing Products for an ATMP (assembly, testing, marking and packaging) unit, likely centred on DDR5 memory. The report also said the company had been engaging with multiple states, with Odisha emerging as the frontrunner.