Semiconductor industry on track to hit $1 trillion in sales in 2026, SIA predicts — bumper forecast follows $791.7 billion haul for 2025

Having delivered a record performance in 2025 with annual revenue reaching $791.7 billion, up 25.6% from the previous year, the global semiconductor industry is on track to top $1 trillion in sales in 2026, according to data released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) based on World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The record revenue will be driven by demand from the AI sector and, to some degree, elevated prices on virtually all types of microelectronics.

"The global semiconductor industry posted its highest-ever annual sales in 2025, nearly hitting $800 billion, and global sales in 2026 are projected to reach roughly $1 trillion," said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. "Semiconductors are the foundation of nearly all modern technology, and emerging technologies like AI, IoT, 6G, autonomous driving, and others will continue to drive robust demand for chips."

While the SIA does not provide predictions for different segments of the semiconductor market, it is safe to say that the whole market will be driven by demand for AI infrastructure led by AI accelerators (read: Nvidia GPUs), HBM memory, networking gear, and storage. At least this is exactly how the market performed in 2025.

From a product segments perspective, logic devices generated $301.9 billion in revenue after expanding by 39.9% year-over-year (YoY) and represented the largest chunk of the market. Memory products — which, from WSTS's perspective, probably includes DRAM, NAND, and other types of memory — followed as the second-largest category with $223.1 billion in sales, up 34.8% YoY.

An avid reader would probably ask whether both $791.7 billion and $1 trillion semiconductor sales were solely due to increasing demand for AI (and cloud) hardware, or also due to increasing prices of all microelectronics. A closer look at last year's results indeed indicates that the industry's momentum accelerated toward the end of the year.

Sales of chips in Q4 2025 reached $236.6 billion, up 37.1% YoY (which is considerably higher than 25.6% average year-over-year increase) and 13.6% sequentially from the previous quarter, which may reflect increased prices as a driver.

When it comes to semiconductor sales results by regions, annual sales increased most significantly in Asia Pacific (and 'all other') markets, which expanded by 45%. Such growth is a result of several factors, including production of the most advanced AI processors in Taiwan, concentration of HBM memory assembly in South Korea and Singapore, as well as AI supply chain clustering. Asia Pacific was followed by the Americas with growth of 30.5%. China saw a 17.3% increase, and Europe a modest gain of 6.3%. Japan was the only major region to decline, with sales falling 4.7% YoY.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.