NVIDIA overtakes Samsung in semiconductor revenue for the first time

Samsung has long accounted for a significant chunk of the global semiconductor revenue. Its DRAM and NAND flash products have been literal cash cows for the company, bringing in tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year. It ended Intel's 24-year run as the top chipmaker by revenue in 2018.

The AI boom has now crowned a new king in this industry: NVIDIA. Its AI accelerators are the hottest commodity in the market right now, and that has not just sent the company's stock soaring, but also its revenues, to the point where it's overtaken Samsung for the first time and has taken the top spot.

Based on the latest research from Gartner, NVIDIA is now the world's largest semiconductor company by revenue. It brought in $76.6 billion in revenue last year, a whopping 120% growth over its 2023 revenue.

Samsung Electronics remained in second place with 2024 revenue of $65.6 billion, a respectable 60.8% improvement over its 2023 numbers. Meanwhile, Intel has declined from number one on the list to number three with $49.8 billion in revenue, a meagre 0.8% improvement over 2023.

Samsung's local rival SK Hynix has jumped up two places from sixth on the list to fourth with $44.1 billion in revenue largely on the back of increase high-bandwidth memory shipments to NVIDIA, a lucrative order that has so far evaded Samsung.

Global semiconductor revenue was up 21% to $655.9 billion in 2024 from $532.1 billion in 2023. It was projected to be higher in 2025 because of higher investments in AI from top companies, but it remains to be seen whether the US tariff issue forces some of them to cut back on their investments due to rising economic uncertainty.