Just 9 of the top 25 chip makers boosted revenue in 2023
The underwhelming performance of the world's biggest semiconductor firms meant that industry revenue fell by 11% in 2023, says Gartner.
The analyst's preliminary 2023 data revealed that industry revenue totalled USD 533 billion last year, a significant decline on 2022. The combined semiconductor revenue of the top 25 semiconductor vendors declined 14.1%, accounting for 74.4% of the market, down from 77.2% in 2022.
Memory sales were a key factor. Gartner says revenue for memory products fell 37% in 2023 – the biggest decline of all segments in the market. This was largely thanks to weak demand for DRAM and NAND from the smartphone, PC and server markets. In 2023, DRAM revenue declined 38.5% to USD 48.4 billion while NAND flash revenue decreased from 37.5% to USD 36.2 billion.
Non-memory revenue declined by just 3% thanks to strong demand for non-memory semiconductors for AI applications from automotive, defence and aerospace.
Gartner reported that just nine of the top 25 semiconductor vendors posted revenue growth in 2023, with 10 experiencing double-digit declines. In the rankings, Intel reclaimed the top spot from Samsung despite a 16.7% fall in revenue, while Nvidia posted the best performance with a 56.4% rise in income.
“While the cyclicality in the semiconductor industry was present again in 2023, the market suffered a difficult year with memory revenue recording one of its worst declines in history,” said Alan Priestley, VP Analyst at Gartner. “The underperforming market also negatively impacted several semiconductor vendors. Only 9 of the top 25 semiconductor vendors posted revenue growth in 2023, with 10 experiencing double-digit declines.”
