전세계 반도체 공급기업 가운데 삼성전자가 인텔을 제치고 글로벌 매출 1위를 달성했다. 매출 1위 달성이 전망됨에도 불구하고 삼성전자 주가는 올해 51,000원까지 떨어지며 5만전자 수성도 위협받고 있어 글로벌 반도체 매출 상위권인 엔비디아·애플와 비교해 시가총액에 큰 차이를 보이고 있는 것으로 나타났다.

▲2024 Global Semiconductor Sales Forecast (Unit: 100 million USD) / (Source: Gartner, Graphics: e4ds)
Samsung, No. 1 in global semiconductor sales at $66.5 billion
SK Hynix and NVIDIA to achieve two-stage growth together
"HBM share expected to increase by 19.2% in DRAM market"
Among the global semiconductor suppliers, Samsung Electronics has surpassed Intel to achieve the top spot in global sales. Despite the outlook for achieving the top spot in sales, Samsung Electronics' stock price has fallen to 51,000 won this year, threatening its 50,000 won market cap, showing a large gap in market capitalization compared to Nvidia and Apple, which are among the top global semiconductor sales companies.
Market research firm Gartner recently announced the results of a preliminary survey on global semiconductor sales in 2024. According to the survey, global semiconductor sales in 2024 are expected to reach USD 626 billion, or approximately KRW 900 trillion, an 18.1% increase from 2023.
In the 2025 semiconductor sales outlook, a total of 705 billion dollars and approximately 1,000 trillion won are expected, and among them, HMB is expected to increase by nearly 20% in the DRAM market share, so domestic memory industries such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are expected to benefit.
Among the top 10 semiconductor suppliers by global sales in 2024, Samsung Electronics is expected to rank first with sales of $66.5 billion (KRW 95 trillion). This figure represents a 62.5% growth over the previous year, accounting for 10% of the overall market share.
Intel then fell one place in the rankings to Samsung, taking second place with sales of $49.1 billion. In terms of growth rate, it showed a 0.1% increase, clearly revealing its recent sluggishness. It was pointed out that the reason for this was the sluggishness of AI accelerators and the slow growth of the x86 business, despite the ambitious launch of product lines including AI PC and Core Ultra chipset.
Third place went to Nvidia, which is leading the AI semiconductor market. With an overwhelming growth rate of 83.6% year-on-year with sales of $45.9 billion, it closely followed Intel's performance. SK Hynix, which ranked 4th, also recorded $42.8 billion and achieved an unprecedented growth rate of 86%, growing together with Nvidia under the AI semiconductor hegemony.
In addition, the order was as follows: △5th Qualcomm with $32.3 billion, △6th Micron with $27.8 billion, △7th Broadcom with $27.6 billion, △8th AMD with $23.9 billion, △9th Apple with $18.8 billion, and 10th Infineon with $16 billion.

▲Market share based on semiconductor sales in 2024 / (Data: Gartner, Graphics: e4ds)
“Data centers will become the second-largest semiconductor market in 2024, behind smartphones, driven by growing demand for AI technologies and generative AI workloads,” said Brocklehurst, an analyst at Investors Service who said graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI processors used in data center applications will drive the semiconductor sector in 2024. “Data center semiconductor revenue is projected to reach $112 billion in 2024, up 73% from $64.8 billion in 2023.”
It is noteworthy that memory sales in 2024 will grow by 71.8%, increasing their share of total semiconductor sales to 25.2%. DRAM sales will increase by 75.4% year-over-year, and NAND sales will increase by 75.7%.
In particular, HBM production contributed significantly to the earnings of DRAM suppliers. HBM sales accounted for 13.6% of total DRAM sales in 2024. However, non-memory sales increased by 6.9% in 2024, accounting for 74.8% of total semiconductor sales.
“Memory and AI semiconductors will drive near-term growth,” said George Brocklehurst, VP analyst at Gartner. “In 2025, HBM is expected to account for 19.2% of DRAM revenue, and HBM revenue will increase 66.3% to $19.8 billion.”
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is ranked first with a 10% share of the global semiconductor market based on sales, but its stock price is converging to the low 50,000 won range, which threatens the 50,000 won mark, and is under pressure due to the lack of a long-term growth strategy and the Korea discount. With a market capitalization of only one-tenth of Nvidia and Apple, attention is focused on how it will achieve the task of growing corporate value together.