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 ( AMD ) 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."