Global semiconductor revenue jumped to a record $425 billion in the second quarter of 2026, driven by the massive memory demand, according to market research firm Omdia.
Semiconductor revenue increased 31.4% sequentially in the quarter, surpassing the previous record quarterly growth rate of 29.2% set in the first quarter. The surge pushed semiconductor revenue for the first half of 2026 to approximately $752 billion.
The latest growth marks an unusually strong period for the semiconductor industry. Omdia said that, since it began tracking the market in 2002, only 10 of 97 quarters have produced sequential revenue growth of more than 10%.
The semiconductor market has now delivered double-digit sequential growth for four consecutive quarters, beginning in the third quarter of 2025. Omdia expects that streak to continue in the third quarter of 2026.
This is a major aberration in semiconductor sales in several ways. Q2 is traditionally the slowest time of year and is usually down 3%-5% from Q1. A 31.4% increase from Q1 is unheard of. And memory is accounting for much of the growth, not CPUs and GPUs.
DRAM and NAND flash manufacturers have increasingly shifted production toward AI products. Micron, for example, shuttered its Crucial line not because it was selling poorly (it wasn’t) but because it wanted to focus solely on more profitable enterprise products.
Those changes have tightened supply-demand conditions for memory, pushing average selling prices higher and significantly increasing supplier revenue. Memory integrated circuits accounted for more than half of all semiconductor revenue in the second quarter, according to Omdia.
Although memory is responsible for much of the industry’s headline growth, semiconductor categories outside memory are also benefiting from the expansion of AI infrastructure.
Revenue from non-memory semiconductors increased by more than 10% sequentially in the second quarter, which is very uncharacteristic. That compares with typical second-quarter growth of slightly more than 3% based on Omdia’s data from 2002 through 2025.
Microprocessor revenue was particularly strong, rising 16% sequentially. Omdia said MPUs – microprocessor units, another way of saying CPUs – are playing an increasingly important role in AI infrastructure, including systems surrounding AI accelerators.
Omdia expects the semiconductor market to reach another major milestone in the third quarter, with quarterly revenue forecast to exceed $500 billion. That would push semiconductor revenue for the first three quarters of 2026 above $1.25 trillion, putting the industry on pace for a year substantially larger than previous records.
Omdia noted that semiconductor revenue during the first half of 2026 had already exceeded the full-year revenue recorded in every year except 2025. If the third-quarter forecast comes true, revenue through the first nine months of 2026 would be about 50% higher than semiconductor revenue for all of 2025.
