A semiconductor industry association stated on Friday that global chip sales are forecast to exceed $1 trillion this year. The association, which represents the majority of U.S. chip companies, reported that global semiconductor sales reached $791.7 billion in 2025, a 25.6% increase year-over-year. This strong growth trend is expected to continue into this year, driven by major global technology firms investing hundreds of billions of dollars in building artificial intelligence data centers.

The fastest-growing and largest category of chips was high-end computing processors produced by NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel. Sales in this category grew 39.9% in 2025, reaching a total of $301.9 billion. The second-largest category was memory chips. Due to shortages sparked by the AI boom, prices surged significantly, leading to a 34.8% sales increase to $223.1 billion in 2025.

The influence of the artificial intelligence boom has now spread to nearly all areas of the chip industry. The president and CEO of the Washington-based association, John Neuffer, mentioned that during a recent visit to Silicon Valley, executives from numerous small and medium-sized chip companies expressed optimism about prospects for 2026. Neuffer stated, "The common refrain I heard was, 'Nobody knows where AI infrastructure build-out will be a year from now, but my order book is full for the foreseeable future.' The momentum in the industry is very strong for at least the next year."