Nvidia Takes Chip Crown: Sales Soar Past TSMC, Samsung

Benefiting from an unprecedented level of demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC), Nvidia has witnessed substantial revenue growth over the past few financial quarters. The data center segment has emerged as the most luminous highlight, with the previously neck-and-neck gaming sector falling increasingly behind in revenue contribution.

According to a report by TechInsights, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Nvidia’s semiconductor sales soared by 23%, reaching $19.8 billion. Such performance propelled it beyond the previously leading titans of the semiconductor industry, including TSMC ($19.6 billion), Samsung ($16.4 billion), and Intel ($14.6 billion), positioning Nvidia as the world’s largest semiconductor supplier.

Initially, GPUs were crafted specifically for the gaming and graphics industries, with Nvidia at the forefront of GPU innovation. Nowadays, GPUs are not only pivotal for video games but are also exceedingly suitable for domains such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, offering robust computational power that has become increasingly vital to the rapidly growing data center market.

Undoubtedly, Nvidia has been a principal beneficiary of the swift expansion in the artificial intelligence market over the past year. Its sales revenue nearly doubled in the second quarter of 2023, with the momentum of robust growth continuing into the third quarter. By the fourth quarter, the scale of semiconductor sales had more than tripled compared to the first quarter of 2023.

Last month, at the GTC 2024 conference held in the San Jose Convention Center in California, Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, introduced the Blackwell architecture GPUs. This includes the B200 GPU, aimed at replacing the H100/H200, and the GB200, which is to be paired with the Grace CPU. It is anticipated that Nvidia’s revenue is likely to continue its ascent throughout 2024.