# 2025 Chip Revenue Estimate Ranks SK hynix Ahead of Intel

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/40627
Published: 2026-10-25T17:20:50.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-25T17:20:50.000Z
Section: Business

> The estimates differ from company filings, while memory integrated circuits accounted for more than half of second-quarter 2026 semiconductor revenue.

SK hynix's estimated 2025 semiconductor revenue exceeded Intel's in a market-research ranking, highlighting how surging demand for memory used in AI infrastructure reshaped the industry's largest suppliers.

SK hynix ranked third in the 2025 semiconductor revenue estimate, at $67.2 billion, up 42.3% from $47.2 billion in 2024. Intel ranked fourth at $48.5 billion, down 3.7% from $50.4 billion. These are market-research estimates, not the companies' reported revenue totals.

A second preliminary ranking also put SK hynix third and Intel fourth, at $60.640 billion and $47.883 billion, respectively. The rankings agree on the companies' positions but give different revenue estimates. SK hynix's FY2025 revenue was 97,146.7 billion won, up 47%, and its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) revenue more than doubled. Intel's consolidated revenue was $52.9 billion in 2025, compared with $53.1 billion in 2024.

The estimates came against a backdrop of rapid industry growth. The 2025 semiconductor market exceeded $830 billion. Marketwide revenue rose about 53% over two years; the top 10 companies grew 90%, versus 8% for the rest of the market. Nvidia, Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron collectively grew their market share from 24% to 42% in that period.

Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) revenue nearly tripled from just over $50 billion in 2023 to more than $150 billion in 2025. Suppliers shifted wafer capacity toward HBM and high-density server DRAM. AI servers also require system memory such as DDR5. “AI servers require not only more HBM but also significantly more system memory, particularly DDR5,” said Lino Jeng, Omdia senior principal analyst.

The market's expansion continued in the second quarter of 2026. Global semiconductor revenue topped $425 billion, up 31.4% from the first quarter, and memory integrated circuits accounted for more than half of second-quarter revenue. First-half revenue reached $752 billion.