Column: From the analysts
AI and HPC demands are pushing data centre semiconductor innovations
By Eric Mounier, Chief Analyst, Photonics at Yole Group T
he explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and hyperscaling in data centres requires fundamental
architectural changes, significantly impacting semiconductors. According to market research and strategy consultancy firm, Yole Group, this market is at an inflection point, as presented in its latest report ‘Data Centre Semiconductor Trends 2025’. In 2024, the total available market for
semiconductors for data centres reached $209bn, which includes compute, memory, networking and power devices. Yole predicts this figure to reach $492bn by 2030. AI and HPC are driving the demand, with generative AI requiring even more processing power and accelerators. Here, hyperscalers pursue vertical integration and better costs. GPUs remain the cornerstone of AI
infrastructure, considered key devices in AI training and inferencing. Yole sees GPU revenues more than doubling by 2030,
from $100bn in 2024 to $215bn. In 2024, the lion’s share of this market was taken by GPU provider, Nvidia, capturing 93% of the server GPU revenues. Adding to this dynamic environment are
AI ASICs, which are increasingly gaining momentum. Here, Google, Amazon and Microsoſt are investing in domain-specific silicon to optimise performance and reduce dependence on Nvidia. Based on the market standing of these companies, the revenues of ASICs for AI are expected to reach $84.5bn by 2030.
Memory architectures are advancing, too Alongside the growing demand for more processing power, memory architectures are also rapidly evolving, with a greater adoption of the fiſth generation of Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory, DDR5. Tis type memory provides more speed, capacity, power efficiency and data integrity – as required by the evolving data centres – and thus represents a significant upgrade in computing memory technology.
R&D has been focused on resolving
bottlenecks in memory as well as new interconnects. AI training requires high-bandwidth memory and new types of interconnects, such as the Compute Express Link, or CXL, an industry- supported cache-coherent interconnect for processors, memory expansion and accelerators that promises to solve memory disaggregation and latency challenges in new server architectures. AI workloads are expected to continue to drive interconnect architectures.
Chief market players Leadership in data centre silicon is also shiſting. US players remain dominant, especially Nvidia, AMD and Intel, but Yole’s analysts also look to China as a growing player in this sector, as the country is rapidly scaling up its domestic capabilities through strategic investments and policies. Export controls continue to impact supply chains but also reinforce sovereign development goals in China. Newcomers are entering this market,
continuing to shape it with their innovations. Chip designs from startups like Groq, Cerebras and Tenstorrent are pushing what AI inference hardware can do. Tis is healthy competition for the progress of silicon technology, as novel solutions challenge established companies in the market, not only with innovations, but costs, performances and energy efficiencies, too. A more in-depth analysis is available
Server semiconductor market value and segmentation in 2024 08 September 2025
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
in the Yole Group’s new report, ‘Data Centre Semiconductor Trends 2025’, which provides further detail of how AI, HPC and hyperscaler demand is driving new semiconductor trends and technologies.
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