Nvidia · Google · Amazon · AMD · epoch.ai
Memory has grown to nearly two-thirds of AI chip component costs
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Key facts
- Total component spend on AI chips grew from approximately $22 billion in 2024 to $52 billion in 2025, with HBM spending alone accounting for roughly $20 billion of that increase
- In absolute terms, HBM spend across these four designers grew from roughly $12 billion in 2024 to $32 billion in 2025, a faster year-over-year increase than any other component
- High-bandwidth memory (HBM) has grown from 52% to 63% of total AI chip component spending between Q1 2024 and Q4 2025
- High-bandwidth memory (HBM) accounts for 63% of AI chip component costs, up from 52% in Q1 2024
Summary
High-bandwidth memory (HBM) has grown from 52% to 63% of total AI chip component spending between Q1 2024 and Q4 2025. HBM will likely account for an even larger share in 2026 as memory supply remains tight and prices rise. For each AI chip designed by Nvidia, AMD, Google, and Amazon, they estimate the per-chip cost of four component categories: memory (HBM), logic dies, advanced packaging (CoWoS), and auxiliary components. The team find that memory’s share rose from 52% to 63% over this period, while packaging fell from 19% to 15% and auxiliary components from 15% to 9%.