LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 10, 2026--
Following a record-setting year for the semiconductor industry, the start of the new year has continued the momentum, as semiconductor revenue grew 27% in 1Q26 from 4Q25 to reach $319bn, according to new research form Omdia. Memory revenue drove the increase, rising over 80% sequentially in 1Q26 from 4Q25.
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Since Omdia began tracking the semiconductor market at a quarterly level in1Q02, this 27% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) growth is the highest observed. The market has now experienced three consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth, with 2Q26 expected to continue this pattern. This puts semiconductor revenue on track to surpass $700bn in 1H26. AI-related demand remains strong, while memory supply/demand imbalances continue to be among the leading trends in the semiconductor market.
Memory market reaches another new high
Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory (NAND) revenue continued strong growth, nearly doubling in revenue in one quarter. Strong AI demand has affected both the DRAM and NAND markets as average selling prices (ASPs) have risen sharply. The result is that these two components accounted for over 40% of all semiconductor revenue in 1Q26, much greater than the long-term average of around 20% revenue share.
Within the memory market, NAND was a particularly strong contributor to growth. NAND revenue reached just under $48bn in 1Q26, rising 96% QoQ as pricing increased across the market. NAND ASPs increased 95% sequentially, driven by sustained AI and data center demand alongside ongoing supply constraints. With utilization remaining high and supply recovery limited by technology transitions, yield learning, and product mix challenges, NAND market momentum is expected to continue through 2Q26, supporting further revenue growth and price increases.
Outside of memory, growth is more consistent with historical patterns
While the memory market has broken from historical patterns, that is not the case for the rest of the semiconductor market. Removing memory IC revenue shows that the 1Q26 semiconductor market grew, but much more modestly. Non-memory semiconductor revenue grew just over 2% QoQ in 1Q26. Historically, revenue for both the overall semiconductor market and the non-memory portion declines in Q1 by approximately 4%. Some components performed at typical seasonal rates; Microcontrollers (MCUs), discretes, and optical markets saw slight to mid-single digit QoQ declines for the first quarter of the year. However, other components, especially those in the AI and data center ecosystem, outperformed the typical decline in revenue in the first quarter. This gave the non-memory side of the semiconductor market modest growth.
Outlook
Strong growth is expected to continue in 2Q26 as memory revenue continues to drive the semiconductor market forward. Quarterly growth is expected to be lower than in the first quarter, but still enough to result in more than 20% sequential growth for the semiconductor market.
“Four consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth for the market show the strength of the current demand for semiconductors,” said Clifford Leimbach, Practice Leader at Omdia. “This expected growth would bring 1H26 to over $700bn, well on track to surpass the $1tn threshold this year.
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Omdia, part of TechTarget, Inc. d/b/a Informa TechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT), is a technology research and advisory group. Our deep knowledge of tech markets grounded in real conversations with industry leaders and hundreds of thousands of data points, make our market intelligence our clients’ strategic advantage. From R&D to ROI, we identify the greatest opportunities and move the industry forward.
Memory contribution to semiconductor market
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Melisa Kasu said her mother died when the family was least prepared. Funerals in Zimbabwe demand a large and expensive send-off with food and music, and loved ones can slide into debt to avoid any public shame.
The 29-year-old Kasu said the local burial society arrived to save the day, carrying huge pots and sacks of corn meal and other supplies. They even lit the cooking fire.
“That’s the time I decided to join them,” she said.
She took over her late mother’s membership in the society in 2023, and discovered a surprising cultural shift was underway: Burial societies in parts of Africa are expanding to take care of the living, too.
Aside from supporting members' funerals, some now offer grocery savings plans and even small-business incubators. They are helping families survive challenges like rising costs, limited access to bank loans and unstable incomes in a country where over two-thirds of people are informally employed. Members pay a small monthly subscription.
At a recent meeting of Kasu's Kuchemana Burial Society, death hardly featured on the agenda. Women sang, debated and pitched business ideas ranging from poultry farming to detergent-making.
“We wanted dignity in death. Now we are striving for it in life,” society secretary Nyadzisayi Mirisawu said. “We don’t want members suffering while alive.”
A group of women founded the society in Kuwadzana, a township in Zimbabwe’s capital of Harare, in 2021 to spare families what members called “embarrassing” funerals that expose poverty.
Burying a loved one well is one of the most important family obligations. Kuchemana means “mourning one another” in the local Shona language. But membership means more than funeral preparation.
The group has 40 members aged between 23 and 72. They pay $3 monthly and receive groceries, cooking help and a $150 cash payout when a loved one dies.
Alongside funeral contributions, members now pay $10 monthly into a collective savings club. Members and trusted people in the community can borrow from the fund at 20% interest, with members sharing profits yearly.
“Borrow for health care, school fees or projects,” Mirisawu told members gathered recently under an avocado tree. Clad in matching T-shirts and floral skirts, they lined up to pay subscriptions. A separate grocery program allows them to buy basics in bulk.
For Kasu, who was laid off from a hardware shop in 2022, the group's attraction lies less in burial payouts than in the financial lifeline it provides. She received $100 from the savings cycle in December. She borrowed another $30. No bank hassles.
“I bought gas tanks and a scale. Now I sell cooking gas to neighbors,” she said. “Business is good. I support myself.”
Researchers say such changes reflect a broader pattern across Africa.
“Banks normally do not lend to the poor or the unemployed, and governments are not providing enough support,” said Sharon Chilunjika, a lecturer in social sciences at Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. “People are using an institution they already trust, the burial society, and expanding it to cover more of their needs.”
She called funerals “one of the most underrated or underappreciated drivers of household poverty” in Africa, with families sometimes turning to loan sharks or selling their assets.
“The way you bury your loved one says a lot about who you are as a family. A cheap coffin or scant food invites judgment. The society will talk,” she said.
In Zimbabwe, burial societies date to the early 20th century, in the colonial era, when migrant workers formed mutual aid groups to ensure dignified funerals far from home in places like neighboring South Africa.
The tradition has endured in Zimbabwe, where funeral insurance is more common than health insurance, which many people cannot afford. Official statistics show fewer than one in 10 has it.
Reports by insurance firms, research companies and the country's statistics agency indicate funeral policies are the most widely held form of insurance in the country, with providers, and even mobile phone companies, promoting low-cost policies.
But members say the community-based burial societies survive in large part because they provide something that companies struggle to match: a sense of belonging.
“It is your neighbor, your church mate,” Chilunjika said. “They don’t ask you to fill a form. They come to your home and comfort you.”
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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Kuchemana Burial Society members sing and dance during a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
Kuchemana Burial Society secretary Nyadzisayi Mirisawu addresses fellow members at a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
Kuchemana Burial Society secretary Nyadzisayi Mirisawu addresses fellow members at a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
Kuchemana Burial Society secretary Nyadzisayi Mirisawu during a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
Manenji Chikwekwete, a low-cost coffin maker, at his workplace in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
