NVIDIA was the largest fabless semiconductor company by 2025 fabless IC-design revenue, according to TrendForce’s ranking published April 1, 2026. Broadcom, Qualcomm, AMD and MediaTek followed. Together, the ten companies generated more than $359.4 billion in 2025 revenue, up 44% year over year.
This is a ranking of fabless IC-design houses—companies that generally design and market chips while outsourcing wafer production to foundries—not a universal list of the world’s largest semiconductor businesses.
What does “fabless” mean?
A fabless semiconductor company designs, develops and sells integrated circuits but generally does not operate the large wafer-fabrication plants used to manufacture them. Instead, it typically relies on foundries such as TSMC, Samsung Foundry or GlobalFoundries. Assembly and testing are also often outsourced.
Fabless does not mean a company owns no manufacturing-related assets. A business may operate research, packaging, testing or specialty-production facilities and still be classified as fabless. Several companies below also sell software, systems, licensing or other products in addition to chips.
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The top 10 fabless semiconductor companies
Methodology: The order below follows TrendForce’s April 1, 2026 ranking by 2025 revenue attributed to fabless IC-design houses. The figures are industry estimates or reported figures harmonized by the source; they are not necessarily identical to each company’s audited calendar-year revenue. Fiscal calendars, reporting scope and subsidiary treatment can differ.
| Rank | Company | 2025 revenue | Primary strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NVIDIA | $205.7 billion | AI accelerators, GPUs, networking and software |
| 2 | Broadcom | $39.7 billion | Custom AI silicon and networking |
| 3 | Qualcomm | Nearly $38.9 billion | Mobile processors, modems and wireless IP |
| 4 | AMD | $34.6 billion | Server CPUs, GPUs and accelerators |
| 5 | MediaTek | $19.1 billion | Smartphone SoCs and connectivity |
| 6 | Marvell Technology | More than $8 billion | Custom silicon and data-center connectivity |
| 7 | Realtek Semiconductor | $3.9 billion | Ethernet, Wi-Fi and consumer connectivity |
| 8 | OmniVision | $3.31 billion | Image sensors and automotive cameras |
| 9 | Novatek Microelectronics | Nearly $3.23 billion | Display-driver ICs and imaging SoCs |
| 10 | Monolithic Power Systems | $2.79 billion | Power-management ICs |
TrendForce’s complete ranking attributes much of the industry’s 2025 growth to cloud-service-provider purchases of GPUs and increasing deployment of in-house AI ASICs.
1. NVIDIA: the dominant AI-compute platform
NVIDIA ranked first by a wide margin, with $205.7 billion in 2025 fabless revenue. Its data-center business accounted for as much as 90% of fourth-quarter revenue, according to TrendForce.
The company designs data-center GPUs and AI accelerators, but its competitive position extends beyond individual chips. CUDA, libraries, developer tools, networking, NVLink interconnects and complete server platforms form an integrated ecosystem that customers use to build and operate AI systems.
That breadth helps explain why competitors can produce capable accelerators yet still find it difficult to match NVIDIA’s platform. The risks include dependence on advanced foundry and packaging capacity, hyperscaler spending cycles and export restrictions that can limit sales to certain markets. NVIDIA is generally considered fabless, although its systems business means consolidated company revenue is broader than chip design alone.
2. Broadcom: custom silicon and AI networking
Broadcom generated $39.7 billion in 2025 fabless revenue, placing it second. Growth was driven by custom silicon and AI networking.
Broadcom designs application-specific integrated circuits for hyperscalers, Ethernet switching products, connectivity chips and broadband infrastructure. Custom AI accelerators allow cloud companies to tailor hardware to their own workloads and diversify their infrastructure beyond general-purpose GPUs. That does not mean ASICs will simply replace GPUs; it means AI computing is developing along multiple hardware paths.
Broadcom also owns infrastructure-software businesses. Its $39.7 billion figure in this ranking should therefore be understood as the fabless semiconductor figure reported by TrendForce, not automatically as total consolidated company revenue.
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3. Qualcomm: wireless IP and mobile compute
Qualcomm ranked third with nearly $38.9 billion in 2025 revenue. Flagship smartphone SoCs supported strong fourth-quarter performance, although its annual growth was slower than Broadcom’s.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon application processors and modems are central to many smartphones, while its standards-essential wireless patents support a significant licensing business. The company is therefore more than a chip seller: chip revenue and licensing revenue have different economics and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Smartphone replacement cycles and consumer-electronics demand remain important vulnerabilities. Qualcomm is attempting to diversify through automotive systems, IoT, edge AI and PC processors. It also faces the possibility that major handset manufacturers will develop more of their own silicon.
4. AMD: the broad-based merchant-compute challenger
AMD’s 2025 revenue rose 34% to $34.6 billion, placing it fourth. Its data-center segment reached $16.6 billion, driven by EPYC server processors and Instinct MI350-series GPUs, according to its 2025 Form 10-K.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsAMD’s portfolio spans EPYC server CPUs, Instinct accelerators, Ryzen client processors and embedded and adaptive-computing products. Its strategic advantage is the ability to offer a broad CPU-and-GPU platform rather than a single accelerator category.
AMD also promotes an open software and ecosystem approach as an alternative to NVIDIA’s CUDA-centered model. Its challenges include software adoption, supply and advanced-packaging constraints, and the difficulty of competing with NVIDIA’s established platform. Future rankings will depend heavily on whether AMD converts accelerator demand into sustained data-center share.
5. MediaTek: a major mobile-focused challenger
MediaTek reached record 2025 revenue of $19.1 billion, up 16%, helped by shipments of its flagship Dimensity 9500 platform.
The company designs smartphone application processors, modems and connectivity products, alongside chips for smart televisions, Wi-Fi equipment, Chromebooks, tablets and edge devices. Its position reflects a balance between premium smartphone products and high-volume mainstream chips.
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MediaTek is especially important to the wider Android supplier ecosystem, but it remains exposed to smartphone demand, pricing pressure and inventory cycles. Its revenue is not directly comparable with Qualcomm’s without considering Qualcomm’s licensing business and the companies’ different reporting scopes.
6. Marvell Technology: custom silicon and connectivity
Marvell exceeded $8 billion in 2025 revenue and grew 43%, supported by AI data-center connectivity, custom silicon and interconnect technologies.
Its products include custom data-center chips, optical and electrical interconnects, Ethernet and storage infrastructure. AI clusters need more than compute: they must move data efficiently between processors, memory and servers. That makes networking and interconnect suppliers strategically important even when they do not design the headline accelerator.
Marvell’s opportunity is closely tied to hyperscaler investment and the growth of customized infrastructure. Its vulnerability is similar exposure: a small number of large customers and changes in cloud capital spending can materially affect demand.
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Realtek generated $3.9 billion in 2025 revenue. It designs Ethernet controllers, Wi-Fi chips, audio products and other connectivity components used in PCs, networking equipment and consumer electronics.
Realtek operates in a lower-average-selling-price, high-volume part of the market. A smaller revenue total does not imply low unit importance: its chips are embedded in a large number of everyday devices, and design wins can scale across millions of products.
The trade-off is exposure to consumer-electronics cycles, pricing pressure and inventory corrections. TrendForce said fourth-quarter revenue fell to $847 million amid seasonality and year-end inventory adjustments, despite stronger first-half demand.
8. OmniVision: image sensors and automotive cameras
OmniVision reached $3.31 billion in 2025 revenue. TrendForce linked growth to automotive advanced-driver-assistance-system camera adoption in China and demand for action and panoramic cameras.
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The company designs CMOS image sensors for smartphones, vehicles, security systems, medical equipment and industrial imaging. Its competitive importance depends on pixel technology, image quality, power efficiency and integration with computational-imaging systems.
Automotive design wins can be durable because vehicle qualification cycles are long. Increasing camera counts and sensor content per vehicle also support the opportunity. However, smartphone demand and the pace of automotive adoption remain important variables.
Corporate-structure caveat: OmniVision is associated with China-based Will Semiconductor. The TrendForce ranking treats OmniVision as a separately counted fabless design house, but readers should not add its revenue to Will Semiconductor’s revenue without resolving potential double counting.
9. Novatek Microelectronics: display drivers and imaging
Novatek reported nearly $3.23 billion in 2025 revenue, with growth of approximately 1%. Its core business is display-driver ICs used in smartphones, monitors and televisions.
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Its slower growth illustrates why revenue ranking is not the same as a ranking of future potential. A specialist can remain essential to a supply chain even when its end market is mature or cyclical.
10. Monolithic Power Systems: power management for AI infrastructure
Monolithic Power Systems generated $2.79 billion in 2025 revenue, up 26%. Fourth-quarter demand was supported by AI- and server-related power-management products.
MPS designs power-management ICs that regulate and deliver electricity to servers, accelerators and other electronic systems. It also serves automotive, industrial, communications and consumer markets.
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AI infrastructure increases semiconductor content outside the main processor. Higher power density makes voltage regulation, efficiency, thermal management and power delivery increasingly important. MPS is therefore a specialist infrastructure supplier rather than a general-purpose compute company, with future growth tied partly to data-center buildout and power requirements.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why AI matters to this ranking
The ranking shows that AI is a broader semiconductor opportunity than GPUs alone. NVIDIA supplies accelerators and networking platforms; Broadcom and Marvell benefit from custom silicon and data movement; AMD competes across CPUs and accelerators; and MPS supplies power-management components needed to operate increasingly dense systems.
Cloud providers are buying large numbers of GPUs while also developing in-house ASICs. This supports demand for both general-purpose AI platforms and customized silicon. It also increases the importance of advanced packaging, chiplets, high-speed interconnects and power delivery.
How to interpret the numbers
Revenue is the primary metric because it is more reproducible than market capitalization, less subjective than “technology leadership” and not distorted by unit-price differences. Unit shipments would favor inexpensive connectivity chips over high-value accelerators. Profitability can also be affected by licensing, software, acquisitions, restructuring and accounting differences.
Revenue does not measure gross margin, customer lock-in, software quality, technological differentiation, resilience or long-term growth. It also does not make the tenth-ranked company objectively less important than the first. NVIDIA’s scale is exceptional, but specialists can have substantial influence in a particular supply chain.
Market capitalization answers a different question by measuring investor expectations and perceived future value. McKinsey’s semiconductor analysis, for example, uses a separate market-capitalization and shareholder-return framework rather than this revenue universe.
What this ranking leaves out
- Apple: Apple designs major processors for its own products, but its internal silicon is not equivalent to merchant-chip revenue. Gartner included Apple in its broader 2025 semiconductor-vendor ranking with $24.596 billion in semiconductor revenue.
- TSMC: TSMC is a foundry that manufactures chips designed by others, not a fabless chip designer.
- Intel: Intel is traditionally an integrated device manufacturer, with both chip design and manufacturing activities.
- Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron: These companies are major memory manufacturers and are included in broader semiconductor rankings, but not this fabless-only list.
- Private and difficult-to-measure designers: Export controls, private-company reporting and corporate structures can affect whether China-based businesses such as Huawei HiSilicon appear in global revenue comparisons. Absence from this list is not proof of technological irrelevance.
Gartner estimates the entire 2025 semiconductor market at $793 billion, but that figure includes categories and business models excluded by TrendForce’s fabless ranking. For example, Gartner’s broader table reports NVIDIA at $125.703 billion, compared with TrendForce’s $205.7 billion fabless figure. The difference reflects methodology, revenue attribution and reporting scope rather than a simple contradiction.
Who leads by strategic category?
| Category | Leading companies in this list |
|---|---|
| AI compute and platforms | NVIDIA, AMD |
| Custom AI silicon and data-center networking | Broadcom, Marvell |
| Mobile chips and wireless technology | Qualcomm, MediaTek |
| Connectivity | Broadcom, Realtek |
| Imaging | OmniVision |
| Displays | Novatek |
| Power management | Monolithic Power Systems |
Bottom line
NVIDIA leads the 2025 fabless revenue ranking by an extraordinary margin. Broadcom represents the rise of custom AI silicon and networking, while AMD remains the broadest merchant-compute challenger. Qualcomm and MediaTek anchor mobile silicon, and the remaining specialists show how connectivity, imaging, displays and power management support the modern electronics and AI infrastructure markets.
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This ranking describes company scale by a specific revenue measure. It is not a profitability ranking, technology score or investment recommendation.
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