Snowballing demand for AI data centres is reshaping the hierarchy of the world’s top five fabless semiconductor companies.
High-end graphics processing units (GPUs), essential for powering generative AI models, are driving explosive growth for firms that design chips but outsource their production to dedicated foundries.
At the centre of this shift is Nvidia, whose dominance in AI hardware has propelled it past long-time leaders like Qualcomm to become the world’s most valuable semiconductor designer—and the first company ever to reach a $4 trillion valuation.
The increasing demand for such chips on the world stage means that fabless semi conductor firms are getting caught up in the trade war between the US and China as the world’s most powerful nations seek to harness the technology to benefit their own economies. This summer, US President Donald Trump reached an agreement with US-based fabless semi-conductor companies Nvidia and AMD where they agreed to pay 15% of revenues generated by sales of the most powerful GPUs into the Chinese market.
Taiwanese research firm TrendForce reports that last year the combined revenue of the world’s top 10 IC design houses reached approximately $249.8 billion, marking a 49% year-on-year increase. TrendForce, which bases its research on publicly available financial reports, only includes revenues from companies’ semi-conductor businesses and excludes that from other operations.
Here’s a roundup of the analyst’s top five, based on full year 2024 company revenues:
1. Nvidia, USA ($124.4bn)
As the largest company on the planet, Nvidia is never far from the world’s news headlines. The company was founded in 1993 at a Denny’s restaurant, specialising in graphics processing units (GPUs) which not only render images for video and computer games but are also better at handling sophisticated computing demands and more energy efficient than regular CPUs. But it is the demand for these powerful GPUs for AI applications that has really fuelled Nvidia’s recent growth. The company saw revenues grow 125% between FY 2023 and 2024, outpacing all of its rivals.
2. Qualcomm, USA ($38.9bn)
Previously the world’s largest fabless semiconductor company, before it was overtaken by Nvidia in 2023, Qualcomm specialises in system-on-chip (SoC) and modem solutions for smartphones, automotive systems, and IoT devices. Its Snapdragon platforms integrate CPU, GPU, DSP, AI acceleration, and advanced connectivity in optimised designs that balance performance with power efficiency. As a long-time architect of cellular standards, Qualcomm has been central to 3G, 4G, and 5G rollouts, with its modem-to-antenna solutions adopted at global scale. Qualcomm’s dual-pronged model—semiconductor sales and IP licensing—continues to fund aggressive R&D.
3. Broadcom, USA ($30.6bn)
Third placed Broadcom differentiates itself from peers by focusing on infrastructure-scale markets rather than consumer handsets. Rather than producing CPUs or GPUs, the company focuses on the plumbing of the digital world—the chips that move, connect, and store data. The company’s product lines include Ethernet switching, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, custom ASICs, and optical components, making it a foundational supplier for data centres, cloud infrastructure, and telecom networks.
4. AMD, USA ($25.8bn)
Founded in 1969 to produce memory chips and other components for early computers, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is these days best known for its CPUs and GPUs. The company has a long history of competition with Intel and in 2022 surpassed Intel in market cap for the first time.
5. Mediatek, Taiwan ($16.5bn)
The world’s fifth biggest fabless semi-conductor company, Mediatek, is part of Taiwan’s growing set of chip designers. Taiwan produces about 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, mostly through the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world’s largest producer and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier. Hsinchu-based Mediatek. Specialising in system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for consumer electronics, with a strong focus on mobile, smart home, and IoT markets. Its key semiconductor lines include: Mobile SoCs for 5G smartphones; feature phone and entry-level SoCs; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GNSS chips for consumer and industrial devices; smart home and IoT SoCs; and automotive SoCs. Unlike Broadcom’s infrastructure focus or AMD’s compute-heavy portfolio, MediaTek is consumer-centric, thriving on integration efficiency and economies of scale.
But with the fabless semi-conductor market changing quickly as new technologies come on stream and demands rapidly evolve, don’t expect this list to stay the same next year. Chinese firms such as Will Semiconductor are looking to grow market share in this highly competitive field while demand surges in areas like AI, Cloud infrastructure, and automotive electronics are reshaping priorities, and at the same time, political, regulatory and supply-chain pressures add new complexity.
