Memory chips, long considered the commodity basement of the semiconductor world, are about to become the majority of it. Gartner’s latest forecast projects memory semiconductor revenue will reach $837.3 billion by the end of 2026, accounting for 54% of the projected $1.555 trillion global semiconductor market.
That’s up from just 27% in 2025. In other words, memory’s share of the total chip industry is expected to double in a single year.
The numbers behind the surge
DRAM revenue is projected to climb 246.6% year-over-year in 2026, while NAND flash is expected to jump by 371.9%. The driver is AI. Specifically, the insatiable appetite of AI data centers for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced DRAM to feed the compute demands of training and running large models. Gartner expects AI data centers to account for 36.5% of total semiconductor revenue by 2026, eventually surpassing 53% by 2030.
Memory semiconductor revenue is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2027, as the broader global semiconductor market reaches $1.94 trillion.
