Top 10 IC design companies saw rapid revenue growth in Q3, and mobile phones and computers saw a rec

2024-01-03

The revenue ranking of the top ten global IC design companies in the third quarter of 2023 has been freshly released! Nvidia is leading with a growth rate of 45.7% and revenue of $16.5 billion, more than twice the revenue of second place. The strong demand for smartphone components has led Cirrus Logic to surpass MPS and climb to the tenth place on the list.

According to the latest data released by TrendForce Consulting, the top ten global IC design companies achieved a revenue of $44.7 billion in the third quarter of 2023, a month on month increase of 17.8%, higher than the growth rate in the second quarter. Among them, Cirrus Logic has replaced Core Source Semiconductor (MPS) to rank tenth on the revenue chart of IC design companies, while other positions remain unchanged.

From the perspective of various companies, NVDIA's revenue surged by 45.7% in the third quarter, reaching $16.5 billion, far ahead of other IC design companies by more than twice the revenue of second place, with data center business accounting for 80% of the total revenue. The terrifying growth rate is due to the continuous growth in demand for AI chips in generative AI and large language models (LLM).

Qualcomm's revenue in the third quarter increased by 2.8% month on month to $7.4 billion, driven by the newly launched flagship AP Snapdragon 8 Gen3 and the shipment of Android smartphones in the second half of the year. However, Nvidia's rapid growth has led to Qualcomm's market share shrinking to 16.5%.

Broadcom has started to focus on AI server related products, such as AI ASIC chips, high-end switches, and network interfaces. In addition, the wireless product business has entered seasonal stocking, successfully offsetting the impact of weak demand from server storage and broadband businesses, driving a quarter on quarter revenue growth of 4.4%, reaching $7.2 billion.

AMD Semiconductor (AMD) benefited from the widespread adoption of fourth generation EPYC server CPUs by cloud and enterprise customers, as well as the favorable impact of seasonal stocking of laptops. Its data center and client departments saw revenue growth, offsetting the decline in gaming and embedded businesses, leading to a month on month revenue growth of 8.2% in the third quarter, reaching $5.8 billion.

Media Tek's revenue in the third quarter increased by 8.7% to $3.5 billion, thanks to inventory replenishment demand for components such as smartphone APs, Wi Fi 6, and mobile/laptop PMICs.

Marvell's revenue in the third quarter reached $1.4 billion, a month on month increase of 4.4%. Its growth also comes from the driving force of generative AI. The increase in demand for generative AI from cloud customers and the expansion of data center business have covered the decline in revenue from other fields such as enterprise networking, automotive, and industrial control. Although AI related businesses are showing a rapid upward trend, the prospects for the recovery of terminal consumption such as television and the internet are still unclear. This leads to customers mostly stocking up on short and urgent orders. Some related IC design companies, such as Novatek and Realtek, have been affected by this, with revenue decreasing by 7.5% and 1.7%, respectively.

Will Semiconductor benefited from the demand for smartphone components and freed itself from inventory adjustments in previous quarters, achieving a revenue of $752 million in the third quarter, a 42.3% increase compared to the previous quarter. Similarly benefiting from strong demand for smartphone components, simulation IC design company Cirrus Logic saw a significant 51.7% month on month increase in revenue in the third quarter, reaching $480 million, surpassing MPS and squeezing into the top ten revenue rankings of IC design companies.

From the revenue of the top ten IC design companies ranked in the third quarter, we can see that the growth momentum of IC design companies in the third quarter mainly came from the strong recovery of the smartphone and laptop markets, as well as the strong demand for AI chips and related products in generative AI and Big Language Modeling (LLM). However, the recovery situation in other consumer markets as well as industrial control, automotive and other fields is still unclear.

In the future, as the inventory levels of various terminals gradually improve, the seasonal stocking of smartphones and laptops will moderately recover in the second half of the year. At the same time, the global trend of building the Big Language Model (LLM) will expand from communication service providers, internet companies, and private enterprises to countries and small and medium-sized enterprises in various regions, which will further promote the positive development of the IC design market. The revenue of the top ten global IC design companies in the fourth quarter will continue to rise.

The semiconductor photoresist market is expected to rebound and exceed $2.8 billion by 2027