hynix

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (UPI) — South Korean tech giant SK hynix, the world’s leading high-bandwidth memory chipmaker, announced Wednesday it launched a new semiconductor-inspired crunchy snack in collaboration with convenience store chain 7-Eleven.

The snack, called “HBM Chips,” is a play on the company’s high bandwidth memory — or HBM — technology. In this case, the acronym stands for “Honey Banana Mat,” using the Korean word for “flavor.”

The square corn chips, coated with sweet honey-banana chocolate, are meant to resemble semiconductors.

SK hynix said the product aims to make its complex technology more accessible to everyday consumers, particularly younger generations who may become future semiconductor industry talent.

“Semiconductors feel too distant for most people, but snacks are something everyone can enjoy,” SK hynix said in a statement. “We decided to explain technology through a new language of taste.”

The company also introduced a new sunglasses-wearing humanoid mascot “equipped with the latest HBM” that it said will appear in future brand communications, social media content and merchandise.

The collaboration marks the first foray into consumer packaged goods for the business-to-business chipmaker.

SK hynix holds approximately 50% of the global HBM market and recently surpassed Samsung to become the world’s largest dynamic random access memory maker for the first time, capturing 36% market share in early 2025. The company pioneered HBM technology, which stacks layers of memory vertically, in 2013 and currently supplies major tech companies including Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft.

HBM chips are critical components in AI servers and high-performance computing, enabling faster data transfer between processors and memory.

SK hynix recently logged record-high quarterly profits and said much of its high-end chip supply has already sold out through 2026 due to surging AI demand.

The new snack chips are now available at 7-Eleven stores across South Korea.