Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the central engine driving growth in the global semiconductor industry, according to a new whitepaper released by market research firm Yole Group.
The report — “AI Whitepaper, Vol. 1: Memory & Computing” — examines how Generative, argentic, and physical AI technologies are reshaping the semiconductor ecosystem, from large-scale data centers to compact edge devices. It is the first in Yole Group’s 2025 whitepaper series, offering a deep analysis of emerging computing and memory trends.
Yole Group says the rapid rise of Generative AI since 2022, marked by the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, triggered an unprecedented wave of demand for advanced chips and data center infrastructure. Companies worldwide have since raced to expand capacity, while semiconductor leaders such as NVIDIA continue to push processor performance to new limits.
Despite these advances, Yole Group predicts that the industry’s appetite for computing power will continue to outpace technological gains. As a result, semiconductor revenues are expected to climb sharply over the next five years, driven by escalating requirements for high-performance computing and massive memory capacity.
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The firm highlights that memory and storage technologies face mounting technical challenges, particularly in providing the bandwidth and scalability required for AI workloads. The situation is most critical in the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) sector, where no viable alternative currently exists.
“With no true DRAM alternative, the industry must innovate within its limits,” said John Lorenz, Director of Memory & Computing at Yole Group. “Scaling the fastest, most cost-effective memory we have is essential to keep pace with AI giants like NVIDIA.”
According to Yole Group, 2025 marks a turning point: AI is no longer just a computational workload — it has become the semiconductor industry’s primary growth engine. Global investments in Generative AI surpassed $200 billion in 2024, adding intense pressure on computing, packaging, and storage systems.
“The longer the machine thinks, the smarter it gets — at a cost,” noted Adrien Sanchez, Senior Technology & Market Analyst at Yole Group. “The challenge is sustaining exponential compute demand without breaking energy and capital limits.”
Future volumes in Yole’s whitepaper collection will focus on semiconductor developments in power electronics and photonics, underscoring AI’s sweeping impact across all layers of technology infrastructure.
Africa Daily News, New York
