LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 25, 2025--
2024 marked a record-breaking year for the semiconductor market with annual revenue surging approximately 25% to $683 billion according to Omdia’s Competitive Landscaping Tool. The sharp rise was attributed to strong demand for AI-related chips, particularly high bandwidth memory (HBM), used in AI GPUs, which contributed to a 74% year-over-year growth in the memory segment. The rebound in memory helped lift the overall market after a challenging 2023.
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However, this record-setting year masked uneven performance across the industry. While the data processing segment experienced strong growth, other key segments - automotive, consumer, and industrial semiconductor – experienced revenue declines in 2024. These struggles highlight areas of weakness within an otherwise booming market.
AI and memory complete a strong 2024
Throughout 2024, AI’s influence on the semiconductor market has been a dominant force, driving record revenues and reshaping industry dynamics. NVIDIA emerged as the clear leader, climbing the market share rankings with strong revenue growth the last few years due to its AI GPUs. HBM, a critical component for AI applications surged alongside, significantly boosting revenues for memory companies. While HBM outpaced other DRAM segments in growth, an improved supply-demand balance contributed to higher average selling prices (ASPs) and revenue gains across the broader memory market.
Industrial segment faces a second consecutive year of decline
The downturn in the industrial semiconductor segment, which began in 2023, deepened in 2024, posing challenges for companies focused on this sector. “Historically, the industrial semiconductor market has grown approximately 6% each year, however, after two years of above-average growth in 2021 and 2022, semiconductor market revenue declined in double digits in 2024,” said Cliff Leimbach, Omdia Principal Analyst. “Diminished demand coupled with inventory adjustments made 2024 a difficult year for the industrial segment. Companies with a large presence in this segment saw their market share rankings slip as a result.”
Automotive market stalls
While the automotive semiconductor market performed better than the industrial sector, it also experienced a revenue decline in 2024. After nearly doubling in size from 2020 to 2023, far exceeding the historical average annual growth rate of 10%, the sector saw an abrupt slowdown. Weakening demand led to a contraction in 2024, disrupting the steady upward trajectory the market had enjoyed in recent years.
NVIDIA takes the top spot as market rankings shift
NVIDIA’s dominance in AI-driven GPUs pushed it to the top position in semiconductor companies by revenue, surpassing Samsung which held the number one position in 2023.
The strong memory market also reshaped the leaderboard with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron all ranking among the top seven largest semiconductor companies by revenue. Each of these companies climbed at least one spot from their 2023 rankings, marking a significant shift from the previous year when they were spread across the top eleven.
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Semiconductor companies by revenue 2024 rankings
Total semiconductor revenue Omdia CLT 4Q24
WASHINGTON (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni will test her mettle as a bridge between the European Union and the United States when she meets with President Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday, becoming the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with him since he announced and then suspended 20% tariffs on European exports.
Meloni secured the meeting as Italy’s leader, but she also has, in a sense, been “knighted” to represent the EU at a critical juncture in the trade war. She was in close contact with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before the trip, and "the outreach is … closely coordinated," a commission spokeswoman said.
“We know we are in a difficult moment," Meloni said this week in Rome. "Most certainly, I am well aware of what I represent, and what I am defending."
The EU is defending what it calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world,’’ with annual trade reaching 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion).
Trade negotiations fall under the authority of the commission, which is pushing for a zero-for-zero tariff deal with Washington. Trump administration officials, in talks with the EU, have yet to publicly show signs of relenting on the president's insistence that a baseline 10% tariff be charged on all foreign imports. Trump paused for 90 days a retaliatory increase to 20%.
That has raised some hopes for negotiations, and Meloni’s margins for progress are more in gaining clarity on the Republican president's goals rather than outright concessions, experts say.
“It is a very delicate mission,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist at the European Policy Center think tank in Brussels. “There is the whole trade agenda, and while she’s not officially negotiating, we know that Trump likes to have this kind of informal exchange, which in a sense is a negotiation. So it’s a lot on her plate."
As the leader of a far-right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on issues including curbing migration, promoting traditional values and skepticism toward multilateral institutions. But stark differences have emerged in Meloni’s unwavering support for Ukraine after Russia's invasion in February 2022.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the war and Italy's role in an eventual postwar reconstruction of Ukraine. Trump is expected to press Meloni to increase Italy's defense spending, which last year fell well below the 2% of gross domestic product target for countries in the NATO military alliance. Italy’s spending, at 1.49% of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe.
Despite the differences on Ukraine and defense spending, Meloni is seen by some in the U.S. administration as a vital bridge to Europe at a difficult moment for trans-Atlantic relations.
Trump is looking not only to discuss with Meloni how “Italy’s marketplace can be opened up, but also how they can help us with the rest of Europe,” according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters before the visit. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
After being the only European leader to attend Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, Meloni has responded with studied restraint as abrupt shifts in U.S. policy under Trump have frayed the U.S.-European alliance. She has denounced the tariffs as "wrong" and warned that “dividing the West would be disastrous for everyone,” after Trump’s heated White House exchange with Ukraine’s president.
“She has been very cautious,’’ said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at the London-based Teneo consultancy. “It is what we need when we have a counterpart that is changing every day.’’
Italy maintains a 40 billion euro ($45 billion) trade surplus with the U.S., its largest with any country, fueled by Americans’ appetite for Italian sparkling wine, foodstuffs like Parmigiano Reggiano hard cheese and Parma ham, and Italian luxury fashion. These are all sectors critical to the Italian economy, and mostly supported by small- and medium-sized producers who are core center-right voters.
“All in all, I think she will focus on the very strong economic and trade relations that Italy has with the United States, not just in terms of exports, but also services and energy," said Antonio Villafranca, vice president of the ISPI think tank in Milan. “For example, Italy could even consider importing more gas from the U.S.”
The meeting comes against the backdrop of growing concerns over global uncertainty generated by the escalating tariff wars. Italy’s growth forecast for this year has already been slashed from 1% to 0.5% as a result.
Experts cautioned against raising expectations over any concrete progress.
“The best strategy has been to be very circumspect: Get there, get the meeting, get the photo opportunity,” Piccoli said. “If she is able to come back, and give a sense of how Washington wants to frame future relations on trade, defense and Ukraine policy, that would be a huge win."
Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
Bottles of olive oil produced in Italy are displayed at Italian grocery store in the Little Italy neighborhood, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Jeff Gibbs, owner of Gibbs Cheese, reaches for Pecorino Romano cheese imported from Sardinia, Italy, at his shop in Findlay Market, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Containers are stored at a container terminal in Duisburg, Germany, the day after President Trump announced new tariffs for the EU and the rest of the world, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
FILE - Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni holds a year-end press conference in Rome, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
