Chip demand remains sky‑high
Global chip sales rose 61.8% year‑over‑year to $88.8 billion in February 2026, with APAC surging about 93.5%, signaling strong category demand for AI chips and RISC‑V players. High headline demand can make pipelines look healthier than they are by amplifying exploratory deals and weakening stage hygiene. ( )
Global semiconductor sales hit $88.8 billion in February 2026, up 61.8% from February 2025. (sia-online.org) Asia-Pacific led the surge with 93.5% year-over-year growth, driven by factories in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Sales there reached record levels amid booming demand for advanced processors. (sia-online.org) South Korea's semiconductor exports jumped 36.7% in March 2026, fueled by high-bandwidth memory chips essential for AI data centers. Companies like SK Hynix reported $12.3 billion in sales that month alone. (upi.com) Chips power everything from smartphones to cars, but demand now centers on AI accelerators—specialized processors that crunch massive datasets like training ChatGPT models, akin to supercharged calculators for complex math. Graphics processing units from Nvidia dominate this market. (reuters.com) RISC-V chips, an open-standard architecture anyone can build without licensing fees—like a free blueprint for efficient processors—are gaining traction for AI edge devices and servers. Startups and firms like Alibaba use RISC-V to cut costs versus proprietary designs from Arm or Intel. (riscv.org) This growth follows a 2024-2025 recovery from a chip glut, when factories idled amid weak demand post-pandemic. Inventory drawdowns cleared excess stock, setting up 2026's boom as AI hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google ramped orders. (wsj.com) Headline sales figures can overstate health: explosive demand pulls in uncommitted "exploratory deals" from customers testing options, inflating order backlogs. This weakens sales-stage hygiene, where firms blur early inquiries with firm contracts. (x.com) Analysts like Beth Kindig note optimistic forecasts from banks like JPMorgan predict 20% industry growth in 2026, but true sustained demand hinges on AI proving profitable beyond hype. (x.com) U.S. export controls on advanced chips to China eased slightly in late 2025, boosting some sales, though tensions persist. Taiwan's TSMC, maker of 90% of cutting-edge chips, plans 20% capacity expansion by 2027. (bloomberg.com) February's numbers signal AI's staying power, but watch Q2 reports for signs of pipeline reality amid exploratory noise. (sia-online.org)
