By Decade’s End, AI Will Drive More Than Half Of All Chip Sales
By Decade’s End, AI Will Drive More Than Half Of All Chip Sales
Publish Date: 2026-01-13 16:34:04
Source Domain: www.nextplatform.com
Summary:
The article dives deep into Gartner’s analysis of worldwide semiconductor sales for 2025, highlighting a significant surge in revenues from AI-related processors, HBM memory, and networking chips. Rajeev Rajput, a Gartner analyst, reported that AI-specific chips made up about 31.5% of global chip sales in 2025, equating to approximately $250 billion. Notably, the revenue for HBM memory alone reached $30 billion, and AI processors topped $200 billion, with projections suggesting AI semis alone will account for over 50% of total chip sales by 2029. The article particularly emphasizes the meteoric rise of Nvidia, which overtook Intel to become the top chip seller by 2024, driven by the GenAI boom. By extrapolating the data, the article projects that total chip sales could reach $1.2 trillion by 2029, with AI sales comprising more than half of that, despite a projected slowdown in growth rate from 21% to 8% over the next four years.
Key Points:
- AI-related chips (XPUs, HBM memory, and networking) represented nearly a third of the $793.4 billion total chip sales in 2025.
- HBM memory sales accounted for over $30 billion and AI processors exceeded $200 billion in the same year.
- Nvidia’s revenue grew dramatically to $125.7 billion in 2024, making it the unquestioned leader in chip sales, surpassing Intel and other major competitors.
- Gartner projections indicate AI chips will comprise over half of overall chip revenues by 2029.
- Excluding major AI-centric companies like Google and Microsoft doesn’t drastically change market direction, pointing to broad AI-driven growth momentum.
