Global Chip Sales Climb 2.5% in April as AI Demand Surges

The global semiconductor industry is showing signs of fresh momentum in 2025. According to new figures released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide chip sales reached $57.0 billion in April, marking a 2.5% increase over March’s total of $55.6 billion. Even more impressively, this represents a 22.7% jump compared to April 2024, when global sales totaled $46.4 billion.

The numbers, compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, offer a valuable snapshot of the industry’s ongoing recovery and evolution. These monthly figures, which are based on a three-month moving average, reflect both the resilience and adaptability of a market navigating rapid technological shifts and shifting regional dynamics.

“Global semiconductor sales in April ticked up on a month-to-month basis for the first time in 2025,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO of SIA. “The market continues to post year-over-year growth, fueled by rising demand in the Americas and Asia Pacific.”

AI and Cloud Infrastructure Drive Growth

Behind these encouraging numbers lies a broader transformation within the tech ecosystem. The SIA highlighted that a fresh WSTS industry forecast predicts strong global growth for the remainder of 2025. Driving this momentum is soaring demand for AI processors, cloud infrastructure hardware, and advanced consumer electronics — categories that have become the engines of the modern semiconductor economy.

As AI adoption accelerates across sectors — from enterprise IT to automotive systems and smart home devices — chipmakers are ramping up both manufacturing capacity and research efforts to meet the rising needs. Cloud data center operators, in particular, have become significant buyers of cutting-edge chips, aiming to handle massive workloads generated by AI training and inference tasks.

Regional Sales: Americas, China, and APAC Lead the Charge

Drilling down into regional performance reveals some telling trends. Year-over-year sales in April surged in the Americas by a remarkable 44.4%, signaling strong demand for semiconductors in data centers, automotive tech, and consumer gadgets. Asia Pacific/All Other regions followed with a 23.1% increase, while China posted a healthy 14.4% growth despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and supply chain adjustments.

Sales in Japan grew modestly by 4.3%, and Europe barely edged into positive territory with a 0.1% rise. Month-to-month figures showed sales increases in China (5.5%), Asia Pacific/All Other (5.3%), and Europe (0.5%), while Japan (-0.6%) and the Americas (-1.1%) saw minor declines.

The dip in the Americas may be a temporary blip, as AI infrastructure investments and the ramp-up of new fabs under initiatives like the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act continue to gain momentum.

Industry Outlook: $700 Billion Market in Sight

The semiconductor sector’s future looks increasingly optimistic. The latest WSTS Spring 2025 forecast, endorsed by the SIA, projects that global chip sales will grow by 11.2% this year, reaching $700.9 billion. The outlook for 2026 is even stronger, with expected global sales of $760.7 billion.

This projection underscores how deeply embedded semiconductors have become in virtually every aspect of modern life — from smartphones and EVs to AI-powered medical imaging and robotics. The WSTS forecast is built on input from an extensive network of global chip manufacturers and market analysts, offering one of the most authoritative outlooks in the industry.