Top Semiconductor Companies – Statistics & Market Trends

As we saw in these semiconductor company statistics, the top semiconductor companies are having their best era yet. Being behind the ‘brains’ of most electronic devices today, they’re some of the key drivers of technological innovation around the world. Despite various market challenges, the semiconductor industry is poised to grow in 2024 and beyond.

The demand for semiconductors saw an unprecedented surge during the pandemic, and the industry is still grappling with aftershocks. However, giants like TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, to name a few, are not only still standing but are reaching new heights.

With the advancements in fields like 5G and AI, more and more is expected from these players. And given their prevalence and influence, there’s a lot to unpack in their statistics and trends. That’s exactly what we’re going to explore in this guide.

Let’s examine the key players in the semiconductor market and explore the key challenges they face today.

Key Statistics of Top Semiconductor Companies

Semiconductor Market Size & Forecast

The semiconductor market has been experiencing unprecedented growth in the last few years. If in 2015 the market’s earnings just exceeded $335 billion, the forecast 2024 earnings amount to $611.23 billion. And in 2025, they’re predicted to reach $687.38 billion.

However, that growth hasn’t been linear, and the market has experienced ups and downs. For instance, in 2023, the market fell 8.3% compared to 2022. In 2024, it grew 16% compared to 2023.

The biggest market growth to date was seen back in 1995 (41.2%), and the biggest drop was in 2001 (31.9%).

In terms of future growth forecasts, Fortune Business Insight reports that the size of the semiconductor market will surpass $2 trillion by 2032, thanks to a CAGR of 14.9%.

Growth by Segment

Consumer technology like smartphones and personal computers represent the largest share of the semiconductor market in 2023.

The smartphone semiconductor market was worth over $100 billion that year, and personal computing was worth $89 billion. The wired and wireless infrastructure semiconductor market brought the least revenue—$50 billion.

The trend could continue in 2025, with the smartphone segment being forecasted to reach $146 billion, still making up the biggest share of the semiconductor market. However, the servers and data storage segment is forecast to come a close second at $136 billion.

Growth by Region

The semiconductors market’s growth figures vary across regions. For example, China is poised to reach $177.8 billion in revenue, the highest in the world in 2024.

The APAC region overall accounted for $330.94 billion in semiconductor sales in 2022 and almost $290 billion in 2023. Moreover, Japan has the most semiconductor plants in the world (102), closely followed by Taiwan (77).

Here’s a breakdown of the forecast 2024 semiconductor market revenue in key countries:

Now that we’ve looked at the semiconductor market size and forecast growth, we’ll look closer at the main market players, their share, and revenue.

As you can see from the chart, Intel and Samsung are the largest players of the semiconductor market, with a 9.1% and 7.5% share, respectively. We’ll study them in more detail in this section.

Let’s dive in.

Samsung

With a 7.5% semiconductor market share in 2023 (down from 10.9% in 2022), Korean Samsung Electronics manufactures a very wide range of industrial and consumer goods. As of June 2024, its market cap is $375.6 billion.

Samsung reached its peak semiconductor revenue in 2018 when it made $73.71 billion. 2021 was another great year for Samsung, with the company bringing in just over $73 billion. However, Samsung’s revenue dropped significantly in 2023, going down to $39.91 billion.

In terms of profit made from semiconductor sales, 2023 was Samsung’s first year since 2013, when it suffered a loss – amounting to $10.78 billion. The year before, the company saw a semiconductor profit of $17.3 billion.

Despite the losses suffered in 2023, the Korean giant produced almost 2 trillion semiconductor units that year.

TSMC

Taiwan produces over 60% of the world’s semiconductors, and the industry makes up over 15% of the country’s GDP. Moreover, the lion’s share of these semiconductors is produced by just one company.

As of 2023, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, is one of the largest companies in the world by pre-tax revenue ($37.33 billion). In June 2024, its market cap was $845.02 billion, the second-largest in the semiconductor market after Nvidia.

TSMC’s best year was 2022 when it made $69.86 billion. However, 2023 wasn’t far behind; TSMC made $66.7 billion that year. Most of the revenue (68%) came from the North American market.

In terms of net profit, the company made just over $31.36 billion in 2022 and $25.86 billion in 2023. These figures far exceed Samsung’s profits, making TSMC one of the most powerful semiconductor companies in the world today.

Another reason TSMC has such a strong market position is its client roster. As of 2021, over a quarter of its revenue came from Apple. Other sources of revenue were fellow semiconductor market players like Broadcom and Nvidia.

Moreover, in 2022, TSMC announced the opening of a new chip plant in Arizona, signifying a potential boost to American semiconductor production. Just two years later, it’s building a third factory in the state, having won over $10 billion from the US government in funding.

NVIDIA

The Californian giant Nvidia is widely regarded as a leader in the AI market. Moreover, it has the highest market cap of semiconductor companies, at over $3 trillion. Its market share in 2023 was 4.5%, almost 100% up from 2021.

In terms of semiconductor revenue, Nvidia made almost $24 billion in 2023, up from $15.33 billion in 2022 and $10.64 billion in 2021.

As Nvidia’s activities include more than hardware and semiconductors, its total revenue in FY24 (March 2023-March 2024) was $60.92 billion.

However, as of 2023, Intel is the semiconductor market leader in terms of revenue, occupying a 9.1% market share. This is down from its peak market leadership in 2011 when it commandeered 16.4% of the overall semiconductor market revenue.

Intel’s market cap in 2024 is smaller than its competitors’ – only $131.02 billion, compared to Nvidia’s $3 trillion and TSMC’s $845.02 billion.

Its revenue has also been going down, even having reached its lowest level in a decade in 2023. The company’s semiconductor revenue in 2023 was $48.66 billion.

Intel’s peak revenue of $72.76 billion was in 2020, but it’s been going down since. Its net income in 2023 was $1.68 billion, the lowest figure in 20 years. 2018 and 2019 were Intel’s best years in terms of net income, with $21.05 billion in both years.

Broadcom

Unlike Intel and Samsung, Broadcom’s semiconductor market revenue share has been on the rise since 2021. In 2023, it reached 4.8% – its largest share to date.

As of June 2024, Broadcom is the third-largest semiconductor company by market cap, behind Nvidia and TSMC. Its market cap is currently $654.85 billion.

Broadcom’s net income has also been on the rise in the last few years. It grew from just $2.72 billion in 2019 up to $11.5 billion in 2022 and up to $14.08 billion in 2023. Its total gross income in 2023 amounted to $35.82 billion, of which $28.18 billion was semiconductor revenue.

Other Market Players

In addition to the major semiconductor market players, several smaller players are gaining prominence in the market. These include Qualcomm, AMD, and STMicroelectronics, to name a few.

Out of these organizations, Qualcomm had the highest revenue in 2023, having made $29.02 billion that year. AMD earned $22.31 billion, and STMicroelectronics earned $17.06 billion.

Key Challenges of the Semiconductor Market

Now that we know more about the key players in the semiconductor market, we’d like to examine the challenges influencing the market’s revenue and development. Let’s dive in.

Geopolitical Issues

In the above episode of “True Spies,” the narrator tells a gripping story of hostile actors weaponizing semiconductor technology. As a key driver of the modern technological landscape, it’s no surprise that semiconductors are playing an increasingly important role in geopolitics.

The US-China tensions are a significant example of how geopolitical issues can impact the development of the semiconductor market. The American semiconductor export control regulations significantly hinder Chinese players from accessing manufacturing technology, but they’re also impacting third-country players like TSMC.

As the Taiwanese company works with both the USA and China, it’s a tricky balance for them to navigate. Moreover, there’s always a risk of China-Taiwan relations deteriorating, and with semiconductors being so pivotal to many industries, such escalations would have devastating ramifications.

Other regions, such as the EU, aren’t far behind the US in terms of semiconductor legal initiatives. For instance, the 2030 Digital Compass Initiative specifies that the EU will produce 20% of the world’s semiconductors by 2030.

This ambitious target is dependent on R&D investment and funding, as well as navigating geopolitical tensions that may restrict access to critical technologies for smaller countries with fewer resources than the EU.

Economic & Supply Chain Pressures

The pandemic’s increased demand for semiconductors clashed with supply shortages, driven by many underpinning factors caused by COVID-19 restrictions. The consequences are still felt by the market today.

While shocking, these consequences were a necessary lesson and drove important economic and legislative initiatives. For instance, the CHIPS and Science Act – signed into law by US President Joe Biden in August 2022 – provides billions of USD in support of domestic semiconductor R&D and production.

The goal is to boost American supply chain resilience amidst ongoing tensions with China. The private sector is also actively trying to risk-proof its supply chains by diversifying its production.

TSMC’s ambitious plans in Arizona are a prime example. Another example is Intel’s investment in its new production facilities, dubbed “Silicon Junction,” located in Germany.

Concluding Thoughts

It’s clear that the semiconductor industry is highly influential today. Semiconductors are embedded in almost all devices we use, so it’s not difficult to estimate the industry’s impact on our lives.

It’s even easier to imagine the potential consequences of disruption of the industry, as we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite the geopolitical volatility and the aftershocks of the pandemic, the semiconductor market is poised to grow and reach $2 trillion by 2032.

While we don’t know who the key players will be by then or where they’ll be based, we foresee huge R&D advancements around the world that will future-proof the semiconductor market against various threats.

Sources