After a series of setbacks in developing the type of memory chips crucial for the artificial intelligence market, Samsung Electronics is narrowing the gap with rival SK Hynix.

Samsung has made important headway in its comeback, including winning the long-awaited approval from artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia for a version of its high-bandwidth memory chips called HBM3, according to people familiar with the matter.

It also anticipates approval for the next generation, HBM3E, in two to four months, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal developments.