The global semiconductor industry experienced a strong recovery in 2024, with Gartner forecasting total revenue of $626 billion, an 18.1% increase. Samsung has regained its position as the top chipmaker, while NVIDIA’s outstanding performance, driven by AI chip revenue, propelled it to the third position. The data center market nearly doubled in size.
Bangkok, Thailand (February 10, 2025) – Gartner, Inc., a leading research and advisory company, has released its latest report on the global semiconductor industry in 2024. The report indicates that the industry’s total revenue reached $626 billion, representing a robust growth of 18.1% compared to 2023. Moreover, Gartner forecasts that in 2025, the global chip industry’s revenue will further increase, reaching $705 billion.
The primary driver behind this impressive growth is the surging demand for high-performance processing chips (GPUs) and AI processors, particularly in data center applications, specifically for servers and accelerator cards.
“GPUs and AI processors used in data center applications were the main drivers of the semiconductor industry last year,” said George Brocklehurst, VP Analyst at Gartner “The increased demand for AI and generative AI applications has made data centers the second-largest market, after smartphones.”
Due to this soaring demand, semiconductor revenue in the data center segment reached $112 billion in 2024, almost doubling from $64.8 billion in 2023.
Samsung Reclaims Leadership, NVIDIA’s Momentum Continues
The strong overall market performance significantly impacted the rankings of major semiconductor manufacturers. In 2024, 11 out of the top 25 manufacturers experienced double-digit revenue growth, and only 8 saw their revenue decline.
A key highlight of this year’s ranking is Samsung Electronics successfully reclaiming the number one position from Intel. This was largely driven by the recovery in memory device prices, boosting Samsung’s total revenue to $66.5 billion, widening the gap with Intel, which ranked second with revenue of $49.2 billion.
The reason of dethronement is because Intel’s products in the AI PCs and Core Ultra Chipset segments were not yet sufficient to offset the success of AI accelerator products, and growth in the x86 business was not substantial. As a result, Intel’s semiconductor revenue grew only slightly, by 0.1%, in 2024.
Another company to watch is NVIDIA, which continued to maintain its exceptional performance. With semiconductor revenue increasing by 84%, totaling $46 billion, the company moved up to the third position globally, driven by the strength of its AI chip business.
Memory Chips and HBM: Key Variables
In 2024, memory revenue grew significantly, by 71.8%, accounting for an increased share of 25.2% of total semiconductor sales. DRAM chip revenue increased by 75.4%, and NAND memory revenue increased by 75.7% compared to the previous year.
The production of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) played a crucial role in the revenue of DRAM chip manufacturers, with HBM chip revenue accounting for 13.6% of total DRAM chip revenue in 2024.
“Memory and AI semiconductors will be the short-term growth drivers,” added Brocklehurst. “Gartner forecasts that the HBM chip market will increase its revenue share to 19.2% of DRAM chips in 2025, and HBM chip revenue is expected to increase by 66.3% in 2025, reaching $19.8 billion.”
Meanwhile, non-memory revenue increased by 6.9% in 2024, accounting for 74.8% of total semiconductor revenue.
The global semiconductor industry in 2024 demonstrated a strong recovery and growth, primarily driven by the demand for AI chips and the expansion of the data center market. Samsung’s return to the top and NVIDIA’s outstanding performance reflect the shift and importance of AI technology in the industry. Furthermore, the growth of the memory chip market, especially HBM, is a key factor to watch in the future.
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