April 7, 2026 /SemiMedia/ — Revenue at the world’s top fabless chip companies rose 44% in 2025 to more than $359.4 billion, driven by strong demand for AI chips as cloud providers expanded spending on data center infrastructure, according to TrendForce.

Nvidia remained the market leader, supported by its AI chip portfolio and computing platform. Data center business made up about 90% of its revenue in the fourth quarter, helping full-year revenue climb 65% to $205.7 billion.

The focus of competition is also shifting beyond computing power. Nvidia recently announced a $2 billion investment in Marvell, with cooperation covering custom XPU, NVLink Fusion interconnect, and optical and silicon photonics technologies. The move highlights how AI infrastructure is expanding toward interconnect standards and platform integration.

Broadcom ranked second as growth in custom ASIC and AI networking products lifted its revenue to $39.7 billion, up 30% from a year earlier. This reflects rising demand for networking components such as Ethernet and NICs in AI systems.

In contrast, smartphone-focused chipmakers showed slower growth. Qualcomm reported higher revenue supported by flagship mobile processors, but full-year growth was limited to 12%, reaching about $38.9 billion, and its ranking slipped to third.

OmniVision also gained ground, with annual revenue rising 10% to $3.31 billion. Growth was supported by demand for automotive image sensors and expansion in action and panoramic camera applications.

Overall, AI demand is reshaping the fabless semiconductor sector, expanding from GPUs into custom chips, networking, and interconnect technologies.