Dated snapshot: this list records the ten largest semiconductor companies by market capitalisation as of mid-November 2024, when this post was first published. Share prices and rankings have changed since, so treat it as a historical reference rather than current data.
In November 2024 the ten largest semiconductor companies by market capitalisation were NVIDIA, TSMC, Broadcom, ASML, Samsung Electronics, AMD, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Applied Materials and Arm Holdings. NVIDIA alone, at about USD 3.6 trillion, was worth more than the other nine combined, driven by demand for its AI accelerators. The list mixes chip designers, a foundry, equipment makers and an IP licensor, which says a lot about where value sits in the industry.
For representation purposes only (old data). The infographic, by Uptrends.ai, shows an earlier date than the list below.
Key takeaways
- NVIDIA was about 53% of the combined market value of the top ten in November 2024.
- Only TSMC and Samsung in this list run leading-edge chip manufacturing; most of the others are fabless designers, equipment suppliers or IP licensors.
- Market cap reflects expected future profits, so it ranks companies very differently from revenue.
- Intel, the long-time revenue leader, was not in the top ten by market value at this date.
The top 10 at a glance (November 2024)
Market caps and 1-year returns are as originally published in mid-November 2024 and have not been re-verified. Revenue is the latest full fiscal year each company had reported by then, in the currency it reports in; fiscal years end at different months, so compare with care.
| Rank | Company (ticker) | Market cap, Nov 2024 | Latest reported annual revenue | 1-year return (TTM), as published Nov 2024; only NVIDIA re-verified | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NVIDIA (NVDA) | USD 3.637 trillion | USD 60.9 billion (FY2024, to Jan 2024) | about +190% (corrected; first published as +15.3%) | GPUs and AI accelerators, networking (fabless) |
| 2 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) | USD 994.53 billion | NT$2.16 trillion, about USD 69.3 billion (2023) | +10.2% | Pure-play foundry |
| 3 | Broadcom (AVGO) | USD 823.04 billion | USD 35.8 billion (FY2023, to Oct 2023) | +12.5% | Networking, custom AI chips, infrastructure software |
| 4 | ASML (ASML) | USD 264.27 billion | EUR 27.6 billion (2023) | +8.9% | Lithography equipment, sole supplier of EUV scanners |
| 5 | Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) | USD 239.83 billion | KRW 258.9 trillion, whole group (2023) | +7.1% | Memory, foundry, phones and consumer electronics |
| 6 | Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) | USD 233.08 billion | USD 22.7 billion (2023) | +9.8% | CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs (fabless) |
| 7 | Texas Instruments (TXN) | USD 194.10 billion | USD 17.5 billion (2023) | +6.5% | Analog and embedded processing, own fabs |
| 8 | Qualcomm (QCOM) | USD 181.54 billion | USD 39.0 billion (FY2024, to Sep 2024) | +11.2% | Mobile SoCs, modems, licensing (fabless) |
| 9 | Applied Materials (AMAT) | USD 153.84 billion | USD 27.2 billion (FY2024, to Oct 2024) | +9.1% | Wafer fab equipment (deposition, etch, inspection) |
| 10 | Arm Holdings (ARM) | USD 147.05 billion | USD 3.2 billion (FY2024, to Mar 2024) | +14.7% | Processor IP licensing and royalties |
How to read these numbers
Market cap versus revenue
Market capitalisation is share price times shares outstanding. It reflects what investors expect a company to earn in the future, not what it sells today. A simple worked example using the table: NVIDIA's market cap was about 60 times its last annual revenue (3,637 ÷ 60.9), Arm's about 45 times (147 ÷ 3.2), Texas Instruments' about 11 times (194 ÷ 17.5), while Samsung's market value was close to one year of group revenue. These ratios are snapshots for illustration, not valuations.
Concentration
The ten market caps add up to about USD 6.87 trillion. NVIDIA's USD 3.64 trillion is roughly 53% of that, more than TSMC, Broadcom, ASML, Samsung, AMD, TI, Qualcomm, Applied Materials and Arm together. That concentration reflects the AI data centre build-out of 2023 and 2024.
Different business models
- Fabless designers: NVIDIA, Broadcom, AMD and Qualcomm design chips and outsource manufacturing, mainly to TSMC.
- Manufacturers: TSMC is a pure-play foundry; Samsung is an integrated device manufacturer with a foundry business; Texas Instruments runs its own analog fabs.
- Equipment: ASML and Applied Materials sell the tools that build chips, so their fortunes follow fab investment cycles.
- IP: Arm licenses processor designs and earns royalties on chips shipped by others.
Who is missing
Intel, which was the largest chip company by revenue in most years from 1992 onwards, had fallen below the top ten by market value by November 2024, with a market cap of roughly USD 100 billion. Micron was also just outside the list. Revenue rankings, such as those published each year by Gartner and other analysts, look quite different: Samsung and Intel rank much higher there, and TSMC is often listed separately as a foundry.
Context: the 2024 chip market
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, citing WSTS data, global semiconductor sales reached about USD 628 billion in 2024, up around 19% from 2023. Growth was led by AI accelerators and high-bandwidth memory, while automotive and industrial chips were weaker. That split explains why NVIDIA, TSMC and Broadcom gained most in value, while analog and microcontroller suppliers such as Texas Instruments lagged.
Corrections to the original list
The first version of this post gave trailing twelve-month revenue and one-year return figures for each company. Several were clearly wrong. For example, NVIDIA's revenue was shown as USD 26.9 billion, which is close to its fiscal 2023 figure, when its reported revenue for the year to July 2024 was about USD 96 billion; its one-year return was also wrong: it was shown as +15.3%, but NVIDIA's split-adjusted closing price rose from USD 48.89 on 15 November 2023 to USD 141.98 on 15 November 2024, the last close before this post was published, a gain of about 190%. That figure has been corrected in the table. The revenue column has been replaced with each company's reported annual revenue. The other one-year return figures are kept exactly as first published, but they have not been re-verified and should be treated with caution.
FAQ
Which was the largest semiconductor company in November 2024?
NVIDIA, with a market cap of about USD 3.6 trillion. At times in 2024 it was also the most valuable listed company in the world.
Is TSMC bigger than Intel?
By market value, yes, by a wide margin in 2024. By revenue too: TSMC reported about USD 69.3 billion for 2023 against Intel's USD 54.2 billion.
Why are ASML and Applied Materials on a semiconductor list?
Both are classed as semiconductor equipment companies. Their tools are essential to every fab, and ASML is the only supplier of EUV lithography scanners used for the most advanced nodes.
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