ASIC shipments jump 44.6%

Why it matters

TrendForce’s 2026 forecast points to a sharper split inside the AI chip market: custom ASIC shipments are expected to grow 44.6%, while merchant GPU shipments rise 16.1%, according to data cited by TechTimes on May 26. The figures come as large cloud companies keep expanding in-house silicon programs for training and inference workloads. DigiTimes reported on May 27 that Broadcom and Taiwan chipmakers are benefiting as demand for cloud AI ASICs broadens. The shift does not remove GPUs from the market, but it does show more buyers choosing purpose-built chips for specific workloads. ### Why are ASICs growing faster than merchant GPUs? TrendForce said cloud service providers are increasing internal chip development, which is lifting demand for application-specific integrated circuits across the AI server supply chain. In a March 20 report, the research firm said ASIC-based AI servers are forecast to account for 27.8% of total AI server shipments in 2026, rising to nearly 40% by 2030. TechTimes reported that Alchip Chairman and Chief Executive Johnny Shen said on Tuesday that revenue growth from custom ASICs should outrun the broader GPU market. The article said his comments aligned with TrendForce’s projection for 44.6% ASIC shipment growth against 16.1% for merchant GPUs in 2026. (trendforce.com) ### Which companies are pushing this demand? Google and Amazon were identified by TrendForce as examples of cloud companies expanding internal chip programs. The firm said next-generation in-house chips from both companies are expected to ramp, supporting ASIC designers and related suppliers. (techtimes.com) DigiTimes said Broadcom and Taiwan chipmakers are riding the ASIC wave as cloud AI designers become more bullish on custom chips. Its May 27 report described cloud AI ASICs as a new battleground in the broader AI boom. ### Why would a cloud company pick an ASIC over a GPU? TrendForce said the growth in inference services is changing demand patterns in AI infrastructure. (trendforce.com) Its January server forecast said the market had been centered on training large language models with GPU-and-HBM systems in 2024 and 2025, but that inference growth was supporting broader server expansion in 2026. (digitimes.com) That shift helps explain why custom chips are gaining share. ASICs are typically designed around narrower workloads and can be tuned for power, cost or deployment needs that a general-purpose accelerator may not match. The cited reports did not say GPUs were being displaced across the board; they said custom silicon was growing faster as hyperscalers added more workload-specific designs. (trendforce.com) ### What does this change for the chip supply chain? TrendForce said MediaTek, Global Unichip and Alchip are among the companies expected to benefit from the cloud push into ASICs. DigiTimes separately pointed to Broadcom and Taiwan chipmakers as beneficiaries of the same demand trend. (techtimes.com) For the supply chain, faster ASIC growth usually means more work before production ramps: chip partitioning, non-recurring engineering budgets, foundry selection, packaging plans and integration with existing server platforms. That is an inference from the way custom chips are developed, and it is consistent with the named companies now being highlighted as design and supply-chain beneficiaries. (trendforce.com) ### Does this mean Nvidia’s position is weakening? TrendForce’s October 2025 analysis said ASIC growth could outpace GPUs in 2026 and put pressure on Nvidia, but it also said competition had moved beyond chip performance to interconnects, switches, software and ecosystem control. That means the market is broadening rather than collapsing into a simple replacement story. (trendforce.com) Nvidia still remains central to AI infrastructure spending, but the latest shipment forecasts show that more of that spending is being distributed across custom silicon programs. The next checkpoints will come from cloud chip ramps, supplier revenue updates and TrendForce’s 2026 AI server shipment tracking, which already projects ASIC-based systems taking a 27.8% share next year. (trendforce.com 1) (trendforce.com 2)

Key numbers

• TrendForce data reported on May 26 showed 2026 ASIC shipments rising 44.6%, outpacing the 16.1% growth forecast for merchant GPUs.
• TrendForce said cloud providers including Google and Amazon are expected to keep lifting ASIC server share through 2026.
• TrendForce’s 2026 forecast points to a sharper split inside the AI chip market: custom ASIC shipments are expected to grow 44.6%, while merchant GPU shipments rise 16.1%, according to data cited by TechTimes on May 26.
• DigiTimes reported on May 27 that Broadcom and Taiwan chipmakers are benefiting as demand for cloud AI ASICs broadens.

What happens next

• TrendForce’s 2026 forecast points to a sharper split inside the AI chip market: custom ASIC shipments are expected to grow 44.6%, while merchant GPU shipments rise 16.1%, according to data cited by TechTimes on May 26.
• DigiTimes reported on May 27 that Broadcom and Taiwan chipmakers are benefiting as demand for cloud AI ASICs broadens.
• The firm said next-generation in-house chips from both companies are expected to ramp, supporting ASIC designers and related suppliers.

Sources

• trendforce.com
• techtimes.com
• digitimes.com
• trendforce.com
• trendforce.com 2

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