Daniel Slotta
Research expert covering Greater China
AI chips - statistics & facts
With artificial intelligence (AI) the new battleground for tech dominance, the race to control the future of AI exists not only in data centers but deep within the chips powering the technology. From national security-driven restrictions and tariffs to surging demand across a range of industries, AI chips are now one of the hottest commodities on the market. Led by the likes of Nvidia, the AI chips market was valued at 71 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, and is forecast to grow by 30 percent in 2025, with a host of rivals looking to seize the opportunities presented with AI.
Nvidia’s rise to the top
A number of the leading tech firms are involved in the development of AI chips, most notably Nvidia. Nvidia’s chips are being used to train and run various large language models, including those developed by OpenAI. ChatGPT was trained using thousands of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs), linked together in an advanced AI data center belonging to Microsoft. Microsoft reportedly acquired twice the number of Nvidia Hopper GPUs as compared to other major tech companies in 2024. High demand for Nvidia’s chips has resulted in it being one of the biggest winners of the AI boom, joining an exclusive club of tech companies that have regularly seen their valuations surpass three trillion U.S. dollars in 2025.Beyond Nvidia
Often, the favored chips for AI applications are GPUs due to their ability to perform millions of mathematical operations in parallel. In the supply of chips for data centers, Nvidia is also joined by semiconductor companies such as AMD and Intel, each of which are also pursuing their own AI journeys. As well as traditional chip players, larger tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are also looking to innovate in the AI chips space. In the case of Google, it has produced the Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU, an application-specific integrated circuit developed specifically for AI activities. Moving forward, firms that can combine software and infrastructure packages with specialized in-house chips are set to prevail as the custom chip trend continues.AI chip use cases continue to grow
AI technologies and tasks require specialized AI chips that are more powerful, more efficient, and optimized for advanced machine learning algorithms. Image recognition, recommendation engines, natural language processing, and autonomous vehicles are just some of the use cases that these chips support. AI chips are also finding their way into an increasing number of consumer devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and wearables. In addition to this, AI chips are also being used in multiple enterprise markets, such as robotics and sensors, fueling even further growth as their use cases extend and deepen. However, with geopolitical tensions, tightening export controls, and an array of new market entrants, the AI chip race is far from over.
