This photo, provided by SK hynix Inc., shows Honey Banana Mat HBM Chips in collaboration with 7-Eleven. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — SK hynix, one of the world’s leading makers of high-bandwidth memory chips, has decided that the path to public affection might just run through the snack aisle.
On Wednesday, the company announced a collaboration with convenience-store giant 7-Eleven to release what may be the most literal tech-themed treat yet: an HBM chip–shaped corn snack coated in honey-banana chocolate.
The product, cheerfully named Honey Banana Mat HBM Chips—“mat” meaning “flavor” in Korean—comes in small square pieces meant to evoke the look of semiconductor components, only far sweeter and substantially more edible. SK hynix said the snack is already available at 7-Eleven stores nationwide.
The company is doubling down on the concept next month with a line of HBM-themed character figurines: humanoid figures powered, at least in lore, by the same memory chips that fuel much of today’s AI boom.
It’s a curious kind of corporate outreach, but one that speaks to a broader truth about South Korea’s technology industry.
7-Eleven announced on November 26 that it has partnered with SK hynix to launch a private-brand product that reinterprets HBM semiconductor chips as a snack, called “Seven Select Honey Banana–Flavored HBM Chips.” A model is shown presenting the Seven Select Honey Banana–Flavored HBM Chips. (Image provided by 7-Eleven)
Semiconductors are the backbone of the national economy, yet the public often encounters them only as abstractions—highly technical, faintly mysterious, and hidden far from daily life. SK hynix says it wants to change that.
“The goal is for consumers to naturally associate semiconductors—and our company—with the joyful experience of eating snacks,” the company said. The hope is that a commodity defined by nanometer precision might feel a little less austere, a little more human.
Whether honey-banana-chocolate chips will spark a deeper cultural connection to semiconductors is an open question. But in a country where convenience-store snacks are practically a national pastime, SK hynix may be betting on exactly the right delivery system.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
