SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Global semiconductor sales are expected to hit $1 trillion this year, the Semiconductor Industry Association said on Friday.

The group, which represents most U.S. chip firms, said ‌that chip sales hit $791.7 billion in 2025, an increase of 25.6% ​over the previous year. That booming growth is expected ‍to continue into this year as ⁠major technology ⁠firms around the world spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build ‌out data centers for ​artificial intelligence.

The growth leader and largest segment of chips was the kind of advanced ⁠computing chips made by ‍Nvidia, ​Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. Sales of those products increased by 39.9%, totaling $301.9 billion in 2025.

The ‍second-largest category was memory chips, whose prices are soaring amid an AI-induced shortage. Memory chip sales rose 34.8% to $223.1 billion.

But the AI boom has extended to nearly every part of the chip industry, with ​John ‍Neuffer, the president and chief executive of the Washington, D.C.-based industry group, saying that executives ​at a range of smaller firms expressed optimism for 2026 when he recently visited Silicon Valley.   

"The refrain I heard was, 'No one knows what's going to happen with the AI build out a year from now, but my ​orders are completely full,'" Neuffer told Reuters. "At least for the next year, we're on a pretty, pretty strong glide path."