Nvidia Advances Vera Rubin Production as HBM4 Competition Shifts

Nvidia is expanding production of its Vera Rubin artificial intelligence computing platform as CEO Jensen Huang projects higher revenue from each unit of data center power capacity and continued growth in AI infrastructure spending. The next-generation system is entering the market with potential benefits for memory suppliers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, whose positions in the high-bandwidth memory market are shifting.

According to Yahoo Finance, Nvidia expects Vera Rubin to generate approximately $40 billion in revenue per gigawatt of computing capacity, compared with $25 billion for Grace Blackwell and $18 billion for Hopper. The projected increase represents 60% more revenue per gigawatt than the preceding generation.

Huang outlined the figures during Nvidia's fiscal second-quarter 2027 earnings call in August. He also reiterated a forecast that global AI infrastructure spending could reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030, a projection he first made last year and reaffirmed in September.

Huang expects Nvidia to sell twice as many chips in 2027 as in 2026, according to remarks he made to reporters in Scotland on September 17. The company is positioning its latest platform to serve cloud providers and other customers expanding AI computing capacity.

Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform combines Rubin graphics processing units, Vera central processing units, NVLink interconnect technology, networking equipment, and software. The integrated system is designed to increase computing output while improving communication between processors and making more efficient use of electricity.

According to Yahoo Finance, Nvidia has begun shipping Vera Rubin systems, with purchase orders from major hyperscalers, AI cloud providers, and equipment manufacturers. The platform's ability to deliver more computing performance within existing power limits addresses a growing constraint for companies building large AI data centers.

At GTC Berlin 2026, Huang demonstrated a Vera Rubin server node and highlighted changes to its manufacturing process. According to the report published by BigGo Finance, assembling a Grace Blackwell node previously took two hours, while the new design reduces assembly time to less than five minutes.

The Vera Rubin node also uses 100% liquid cooling, compared with 80% for Grace Blackwell, and eliminates the extensive cabling associated with the previous design. Huang linked these changes to improvements in manufacturing productivity, reliability, and performance.

The transition is increasing attention on suppliers of sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory, known as HBM4. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both participate in supplying memory for Vera Rubin, although their market shares have moved in different directions during the transition to the new generation.

Counterpoint Research data cited by BigGo Finance show that SK Hynix's share of HBM revenue declined from 58% in the first quarter to 50% in the second quarter. Samsung's share increased from 21% to 33% over the same period, narrowing the gap between the companies from 37 percentage points to 17 percentage points.

BigGo Finance attributed pressure on SK Hynix's HBM4 outlook to certification delays, interface synchronization issues, and extended performance tuning. The report, citing TrendForce, said these factors pushed back mass-production timing to the third quarter and prompted a downward revision of annual HBM4 shipment forecasts, with some capacity redirected toward DDR5 and LPDDR5 memory.

Samsung said during its second-quarter earnings conference call that third-quarter HBM4 revenue would more than triple from the previous quarter. The company also expected HBM4 to account for more than 60% of its HBM revenue in the second half of the year. Industry observers estimated Samsung's HBM4 manufacturing yield at around 80%.

Analyst projections also indicate a possible change in market leadership. JPMorgan forecast that SK Hynix's HBM market share would fall from 60% in 2025 to 46% in 2026 and 41% in 2027. UBS projected that Samsung would overtake SK Hynix in HBM bit shipments in 2027, with respective shares of 41% and 39%.

SK Hynix's earnings expectations remain substantial despite downward revisions to its third-quarter outlook. According to brokerage consensus figures reported by BigGo Finance, the company's projected third-quarter operating profit stands at 76.964 trillion won, approximately $57.9 billion, with an operating margin of about 78.4%.

The third-quarter operating profit consensus is 5.6% below the 81.5122 trillion won estimate recorded three months earlier. Individual brokerage forecasts range from 70.1 trillion won at DS Investment Securities to 80.1 trillion won at Meritz Securities.

Analysts expect SK Hynix's fourth-quarter operating profit to reach 87.2701 trillion won, approximately $65.7 billion, as memory shipments and HBM4 revenue contributions develop. LS Securities also reduced its forecast for SK Hynix's 2027 HBM operating margin from around 80% to approximately 60%.