Q3 2025 Quarterly Market Insights 2 - Flipbook - Page 2
Semiconductor Industry Market Outlook
Global Semiconductor Outlook Q3 2025: Revenue Surge, Memory Spike, and Strategic Shifts
The global semiconductor industry enters Q3 2025 with strong momentum, riding on a surge in AI-related
demand, memory market revival, and aggressive capital expenditure across regions. With geopolitical forces
shaping supply chains and price dynamics, industry players are navigating a complex but highly rewarding
growth cycle.
Global
Market growth & broad dynamics
The industry entered Q3 on a growth trajectory after a strong 2024 and a bullish
2025 outlook: analysts and consultancies project semiconductor sales to reach
record highs in 2025 as AI compute and data-centre spending underpin demand for
logic, foundry and memory products (Deloitte’s 2025 industry outlook, among
others).
However, growth is uneven. AI and HPC segments - particularly GPUs, AI
accelerators, and supporting memory (HBM) - are the principal growth drivers, while
legacy mobile/PC segments show persistent softness and cyclical inventory
adjustments (TrendForce / Omdia reporting on diverging end-market demand).
Memory market — DRAM & HBM pricing in focus
Q3 2025 saw a clear price recovery for DRAM, led by server DDR5 and tightening
enterprise/server inventories as cloud providers accelerated purchasing for AI
workloads: TrendForce and other trackers reported quarter-on-quarter DRAM
contract price gains in the single- to low-double-digit range in August 2025.
HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) was the most constrained and fastest-growing
memory segment in Q3 - supply shortages against surging AI demand pushed HBM
prices significantly higher during the quarter, with market commentary citing
double-digit increases and tight allocation for HBM stacks powering AI accelerators.
At the same time, several investment banks warned that HBM growth could
moderate in 2026 as capacity expands and TAM estimates are revised.
For context, industry trackers projected DDR5 up approximately 3–8% and HBM up
mid-teens percentage points in Q3 2025 versus the prior quarter - a shift that
materially impacts GPU/system OEM bills of materials and cloud CAPEX models.
Passive components & supply chain signals.
Passive components & supply chain signals
Passive electronic components (capacitors, resistors, inductors) enjoyed healthier
demand sentiment in mid-2025, driven by industrial, automotive, and infrastructure
projects; market estimates valued the passive components sector at around US$40
billion in 2024, with steady multi-year growth expected into the late 2020s. This
segment is benefitting from higher component content per board in automotive
and telecom (5G/edge) applications.
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