According to a report by Gartner, worldwide semiconductor revenue in 2024 totalled $626 billion, registering an increase of 18.1 per cent from 2023. Revenue is projected to total $ 705 billion in 2025.
The report mentioned that memory revenue recorded 71.8 per cent revenue growth in 2024. Memory’s share as a percentage of total semiconductor sales increased to 25.2 per cent in 2024. Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) revenue improved 75.4 per cent in 2024 while Not AND (NAND) revenue increased 75.7 per cent year-over-year. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) production contributed significantly to the revenue for DRAM vendors. HBM revenue represented 13.6 per cent of total DRAM revenue in 2024. Nonmemory revenue increased 6.9 per cent in 2024. Nonmemory accounted for 74.8 per cent of total semiconductor revenue in 2024.
As per the report, the positive performance of the overall market impacted the ranking of several semiconductor vendors. Eleven vendors experienced double-digit growth and only eight of the top 25 semiconductor vendors posted revenue decline in 2024.
Samsung Electronics reclaimed the first spot and extended its lead in 2024 driven by a strong rebound in memory device prices. Samsung Electronics revenue totalled $ 66.5 billion in 2024.
Meanwhile, Intel moved to the second position as its product set, artificial intelligence (AI) personal computers (PCs) and the Core Ultra-chipset, 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 0.1 per cent growth in 2024.
Further, Nvidia continued to perform exceptionally well, increasing its semiconductor revenue by 84 per cent in 2024, to total $ 46 billion. It moved up two spots to secure the third position thanks to the strength of its AI business.
Commenting on the report, George Brocklehurst, vice president (VP) analyst, Gartner, said, “Graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI processors used in data centre applications (servers and accelerator cards) were the key drivers for the chip sector in 2024. The rising demand for AI and generative AI (GenAI) workloads led data centres to become the second-largest market for semiconductors in 2024, behind smartphones. Data centre semiconductor revenue totalled $ 112 billion in 2024, up from $ 64.8 billion in 2023.”
Brocklehurst added, “Memory and AI semiconductors will drive near-term growth, with HBM projected to account for an increasing share of DRAM revenue, reaching 19.2 per cent in 2025. HBM revenue is estimated to increase 66.3 per cent in 2025, reaching $19.8 billion.”
