According to the latest research by TrendForce, the global automotive semiconductor market is projected to grow steadily from approximately $67.7 billion in 2024 to nearly $96.9 billion by 2029, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% during this period. This growth is driven by the accelerating electrification and intelligence trends in the automotive industry.

However, growth across different automotive chip segments is highly uneven. High-performance computing (HPC) chips, such as logic processors and advanced memory, are expanding at a significantly faster pace than traditional components like microcontrollers (MCUs), reflecting a rapid concentration of market value in core technologies supporting intelligence and electrification.

TrendForce estimates that the global penetration rate of electric vehicles (including BEVs, PHEVs, FCVs, and HEVs) in new car sales will rise to 29.5% by 2025. Simultaneously, the industry is accelerating its shift toward intelligence, relying on multi-sensor configurations, high-speed communication, and AI model applications. The transition from distributed to domain-centralized and eventually centralized electronic/electrical (E/E) architectures is also critical.

The increasing data volume from multi-sensor setups and the expanding parameter scale of AI models are driving exponential growth in demand for computing power. Additionally, automakers are integrating various functional domains—such as vehicle control, remote processing, autonomous driving, and smart cockpits—to different degrees, with semiconductor suppliers playing a pivotal role.

As chip manufacturers introduce cockpit/ADAS-integrated SoCs, these solutions are expected to enter commercial deployment in 2025. Controller consolidation helps reduce component usage, share electronic resources, and streamline wiring harness layouts, offering cost benefits that could further accelerate the adoption of automotive intelligence.

TrendForce forecasts that the CAGR for automotive logic processors will reach 8.6% from 2024 to 2029, surpassing the industry average of 7.4%.

**Intensifying Competition: New Entrants Challenge Incumbents** With varying growth rates across semiconductor categories, competition among chip suppliers has intensified. NVIDIA, a leader in server chips, and Qualcomm, a dominant player in mobile processors, are leveraging their high-performance computing chips and robust hardware-software ecosystems to aggressively expand into automotive intelligence. Meanwhile, Chinese firms like Horizon Robotics are rapidly gaining ground, supported by technological advancements, localization policies, and strong demand for advanced intelligence.

Although traditional automotive chip suppliers face mounting pressure, their extensive product portfolios, reliability, and deep customer relationships remain key competitive advantages against new entrants.

TrendForce notes that the automotive semiconductor market is highly diverse, with each player facing unique strengths and challenges. Success hinges on forming strategic alliances with multiple partners and developing integrated hardware-software capabilities, as pure hardware performance is no longer the sole determinant of market leadership.