Samsung Electronics said Friday it has begun shipping samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip, the 12-layer HBM4E, marking the world's first shipment of the next-generation artificial intelligence memory product. This photo provided by Samsung Electronics shows Samsung’s 12-layer HBM4E product, the first of its kind to be shipped globally. (Samsung Electronics) The move comes just three months after Samsung became the first company to begin mass production and shipments of sixth-generation HBM4 chips in February, underscoring its efforts to strengthen its leadership in the rapidly growing AI memory market.According to the company, the HBM4E delivers industry-leading performance through optimized chip design and manufacturing processes. Samsung’s 12-layer HBM4E product (Samsung Electronics) The chip supports data transfer speeds of up to 16 gigabits per second per pin, more than 20 percent faster than the previous HBM4 lineup.The chip also offers bandwidth of up to 3.6 terabytes per second per stack, enabling faster processing speeds for large language models and next-generation AI systems."Following the successful mass production of HBM4, Samsung has completed the shipment of next-generation HBM4E samples without disruption, further solidifying its technological leadership in the market," Hwang Sang-joon, head of memory development at Samsung Electronics, said in a press release.The tech giant said it plans to begin mass production of the HBM4E in line with customer schedules following the sample shipments.Samsung's customers include major AI companies, such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc., Nvidia and Google. (Yonhap)