The global semiconductor market continued its strong recovery in Q3 2025, with September sales reaching $69.5 billion, a 25.1% year-on-year increase, marking the most impressive performance in recent months. The industry's growth is primarily driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure development and soaring demand for memory chips, indicating rapid expansion in data center investment cycles.

According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), total Q3 sales reached $208.4 billion, up 15.8% from the previous quarter, with September showing sustained momentum at a 7% month-on-month increase. The association highlighted that logic and memory chips performed exceptionally well, with demand growth concentrated in the Asia-Pacific and Americas markets.

Memory manufacturers reported exceptionally strong sales. Samsung Electronics set a record with its HBM3E and server SSDs, while SK Hynix's high-bandwidth memory has already been booked through 2027, reflecting the widening supply-demand gap for AI training chips. Regionally, the Americas market grew 25.5% year-on-year in August, while the Asia-Pacific market surged 43.1%. AI-related chips are projected to generate $150 billion in sales this year.

TSMC, the world's leading foundry, raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to the mid-30% range, with gross margins climbing to 59.5%. Advanced process pricing continues to command a premium, and the company plans to increase foundry quotes by 3% to 5% in 2026 due to persistent shortages in cutting-edge node demand.

The industry outlook remains positive. Global semiconductor sales are estimated to reach $728 billion in 2025, up 15.4% year-on-year, with projections exceeding $800 billion in 2026 and potentially hitting $1 trillion by 2030. Robust AI infrastructure investment and data center expansion are supporting the semiconductor industry's entry into a new long-term growth cycle.