Global chip sales hit $517.7bn in the third quarter, up 24.1% from the second, per the Semiconductor Industry Association. Apple's memory-cost margin warning, Meta and Alphabet bond sales and a Texas data center moratorium show where the limits are starting to bite.
SIA's third straight quarter of more than 20% sequential growth was led by the Americas, where September sales jumped 191.7% year on year as AI infrastructure spending concentrated in U.S. data centers. Source
Global chip sales reached $517.7bn in the third quarter, up 24.1% from the second, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). It was a third straight quarter of sequential growth above 20%, which the industry has never managed before. September alone came in at $172.6bn, up 146.8% year-on-year, though SIA's monthly figures are three-month moving averages, so that jump smooths over several months of acceleration.
