Global semiconductor revenue in 2024 totaled $626 billion, an increase of 18.1 percent from 2023, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. Revenue is projected to total $705 billion in 2025.
George Brocklehurst, VP Analyst at Gartner, attributed this surge in the sector to graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI processors used in data center applications.
“The rising demand for AI and generative AI (GenAI) workloads led data centers to become the second-largest market for semiconductors in 2024, behind smartphones. Data center semiconductor revenue totaled $112 billion in 2024, up from $64.8 billion in 2023,” he stated.
Samsung Electronics reclaims top spot
The positive performance of the overall market impacted the ranking of several semiconductor vendors. Eleven vendors experienced double-digit growth and only 8 of the top 25 semiconductor vendors posted revenue decline in 2024. With 9 out of the top 10 semiconductor vendors recording revenue growth in 2024, the ranking of the top 10 semiconductor vendors changed compared to 2023.
Samsung Electronics reclaimed the top spot from Intel and extended its lead over the company in 2024 driven by a strong rebound in memory device prices. Samsung Electronics’ revenue totaled $66.5 billion in 2024.
Intel moved to the second position as its product set was insufficient to offset the limited success of its AI accelerator offering and the modest growth in its x86 business. Intel’s semiconductor revenue was flat at $49.18 billion in 2024.
Meanwhile, Nvidia continued to perform exceptionally well, increasing its semiconductor revenue by 84 percent in 2024, to total $46 billion. It moved up two spots to secure the third position thanks to the strength of its AI business.
Other notable mentions in the top 10 include SK Hynix in fourth place, Qualcomm in fifth and Micron Technology in sixth place.
Memory and AI semiconductors to drive growth
Memory revenue recorded 71.8 percent growth in 2024. Memory’s share as a percentage of total semiconductor sales increased to 25.2 percent in 2024.
Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) revenue improved 75.4 percent in 2024 while NAND revenue increased 75.7 percent year-over-year. Notably, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production contributed significantly to the revenue for DRAM vendors. HBM revenue represented 13.6 percent of total DRAM revenue in 2024.
Meanwhile, nonmemory revenue increased 6.9 percent in 2024 and accounted for 74.8 percent of total semiconductor revenue in 2024.
“Memory and AI semiconductors will drive near-term growth, with HBM projected to account for an increasing share of DRAM revenue, reaching 19.2 percent in 2025. HBM revenue is estimated to increase 66.3 percent in 2025, reaching $19.8 billion,” said Brocklehurst.
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IT spending to grow 9.8 percent in 2025
In a separate report, Gartner expected worldwide IT spending to total $5.61 trillion in 2025, an increase of 9.8 percent from 2024. Segments including data center systems, devices and software will see double-digit growth in 2025, largely due to GenAI hardware upgrades.
However, these upgraded segments will not differentiate themselves in terms of functionality yet, even with new hardware. The report also revealed that IT services companies and hyperscalers will account for over 70 percent of spending in 2025.
