The global semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market size reached USD 5.9 Billion in 2024. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach USD 8.9 Billion by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 4.40% during 2025-2033. The market is primarily driven by the expanding electronics sector globally, the extensive utilization of multicore technology for consumer electronics, and the continuous technological innovations.
The extensive utilization of processor IP, including ARM’s Cortex series in tablets, smartphones, embedded systems, and IoT devices is propelling the market demand. Besides this, the escalating demand for Interface IP, such as PCle, USB, HDMI, and Ethernet to transfer data, connect gadgets, and enable audio/video transmission is augmenting the market globally. Moreover, the rising need for memory IP, including DRAM, SRAM, and flash memory to store instructions and data temporarily or permanently in electronic devices is also stimulating the market growth.
According to the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market analysis, the most common method of monetizing semiconductor IP is royalty. IP providers receive royalties depending on the amount of chips manufactured or sold using their IP solutions. Additionally, licensing agreements are used for granting permission to semiconductor companies to use and access third-party IP. Furthermore, the growing popularity of customization, verification, and integration services for adding value to the IP and minimizing time-to-market and development costs is also catalyzing the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market statistics.
The elevating requirement for soft cores in applications demanding customization and flexibility, such as rapid development, prototyping, and low-volume production is bolstering the market growth forward. Moreover, the widespread adoption of hard cores in microcontrollers, microprocessors, and memory controllers, as they enhance area, power efficiency, and performance, is positively influencing the global market.
Semiconductor IP finds extensive usage in several applications, including IDM firms, foundries, fabless firms. IDM firms utilize these solutions to improve their in-house design capabilities and for specialized functionalities. Moreover, foundries integrate IP services to optimize their manufacturing techniques, including quality control, test and measurement, or yield enhancement. Apart from this, fabless firms may license IP for processors, memory, interfaces, or other core functions.
Semiconductor IP finds widespread applications in mobile devices, gaming consoles, and home entertainment for memory, processors, interfaces, and wireless connectivity. Besides this, the elevating requirement for IP solutions in switches, routers, modems, smartphones, and base stations for packet switching and high-speed data processing is augmenting the market growth. Moreover, the rising need for semiconductor IP in advanced driver assistance systems for radar and image processing and sensor fusion purposes is propelling the market forward. In addition to this, semiconductor IP is increasingly popular in the healthcare sector for patient monitoring and medical imaging applications.
North America, mainly the US, is the major hub for IP development and semiconductor innovation. Besides this, Germany, France, and the UK are focusing largely on developing IP for the industrial, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors. Moreover, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa regions are characterized by the emerging trend of AI and machine learning in smart cities, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles. For instance, Synopsys, Inc. announced that the VMM verification methodology, represented in the ARM-Synopsys Verification Methodology Manual (VMM), has been adopted by the leading electronics companies in China for developing advanced verification environments. The VMM methodology is used by various System-on-Chip (SoC) and silicon IP verification teams across the globe to speed the development of powerful SystemVerilog-based verification environments and to achieve measurable functional coverage goals in less time with little effort.
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market Trends:
Increasing Shift Towards Design Services
The rising shift of several companies and organizations towards providing IP as part of a wider design services package to offer consumers solutions with end-to-end semiconductor design is primarily driving the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market statistics. Moreover, the extensive utilization of pre-designed IP subsystems that can be incorporated into larger designs is anticipated to propel the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market forecast. For instance, in March 2023, Synopsys, Inc. announced an expanded agreement with Samsung Foundry to create a broad portfolio of IP to reduce design risk for automotive, mobile, High-Performance Computing (HPC) and multi-die configurations. This agreement expanded Synopsys' collaboration with Samsung to enhance the Synopsys IP offering for Samsung's advanced 8LPU, SF5, SF4 and SF3 processes and includes USB, PCI Express, Foundation IP, 112G Ethernet, UCle, LPDDR, DDR, MIPI, etc.Growing Focus on Security and Reliability
The escalating demand for IP related to hardware security, such as secure boot, cryptographic engines, and tamper-resistant components, on account of the increasing threats of cyberattacks, is augmenting the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market growth. Moreover, the widespread adoption of IP solutions in high-speed data processing and wireless communication is catalyzing the global market. For example, in July 2023, Rambus Inc., announced the first in a family of quantum safe security IP products with its next-generation Root of Trust for data center and communications security. Quantum computers will be able to break current asymmetric encryption rapidly. The Rambus Root of Trust IP offers customers a full Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) hardware security solution that protects useful data center and AI/ML assets and systems.Rising Use of Electronic Components by Consumers
The rising need for semiconductor IP solutions in automotive, industrial, and consumer electronic applications is positively influencing the market growth. In addition to this, the emerging AI, 5G, and IoT technologies and the growing popularity of open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture are also propelling the market. For instance, in March 2024, Arteris, Inc., announced the immediate availability of the latest release of Ncore cache coherent network-on-chip (NoC) IP, which works with multiple processor IPs, including RISC-V and the next-generation Armv9 Cortex processor IP. Ncore boasts multi-protocol support, allowing seamless integration of IPs connected to the same NoC fabric.Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market Segmentation:
The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each segment of the market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country levels for 2025-2033. Our report has categorized the market based on IP type, revenue source, IP core, application, and end use industry.Breakup by IP Type:
- Processor IP
- Interface IP
- Memory IP
- Others
The extensive utilization of processor IP, including ARM’s Cortex series in tablets, smartphones, embedded systems, and IoT devices is propelling the market demand. Besides this, the escalating demand for Interface IP, such as PCle, USB, HDMI, and Ethernet to transfer data, connect gadgets, and enable audio/video transmission is augmenting the market globally. Moreover, the rising need for memory IP, including DRAM, SRAM, and flash memory to store instructions and data temporarily or permanently in electronic devices is also stimulating the market growth.
Breakup by Revenue Source:
- Royalty
- Licensing
- Services
According to the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market analysis, the most common method of monetizing semiconductor IP is royalty. IP providers receive royalties depending on the amount of chips manufactured or sold using their IP solutions. Additionally, licensing agreements are used for granting permission to semiconductor companies to use and access third-party IP. Furthermore, the growing popularity of customization, verification, and integration services for adding value to the IP and minimizing time-to-market and development costs is also catalyzing the semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market statistics.
Breakup by IP Core:
- Soft Cores
- Hard Cores
The elevating requirement for soft cores in applications demanding customization and flexibility, such as rapid development, prototyping, and low-volume production is bolstering the market growth forward. Moreover, the widespread adoption of hard cores in microcontrollers, microprocessors, and memory controllers, as they enhance area, power efficiency, and performance, is positively influencing the global market.
Breakup by Application:
- IDM Firms
- Foundries
- Fabless Firms
- Others
Semiconductor IP finds extensive usage in several applications, including IDM firms, foundries, fabless firms. IDM firms utilize these solutions to improve their in-house design capabilities and for specialized functionalities. Moreover, foundries integrate IP services to optimize their manufacturing techniques, including quality control, test and measurement, or yield enhancement. Apart from this, fabless firms may license IP for processors, memory, interfaces, or other core functions.
Breakup by End Use Industry:
- Consumer Electronics
- Telecom
- Automotive
- Healthcare
- Others
Semiconductor IP finds widespread applications in mobile devices, gaming consoles, and home entertainment for memory, processors, interfaces, and wireless connectivity. Besides this, the elevating requirement for IP solutions in switches, routers, modems, smartphones, and base stations for packet switching and high-speed data processing is augmenting the market growth. Moreover, the rising need for semiconductor IP in advanced driver assistance systems for radar and image processing and sensor fusion purposes is propelling the market forward. In addition to this, semiconductor IP is increasingly popular in the healthcare sector for patient monitoring and medical imaging applications.
Breakup by Region:
- North America
- United States
- Canada
- Asia Pacific
- China
- Japan
- India
- South Korea
- Australia
- Indonesia
- Others
- Europe
- Germany
- France
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- Spain
- Russia
- Others
- Latin America
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Others
- Middle East and Africa
North America, mainly the US, is the major hub for IP development and semiconductor innovation. Besides this, Germany, France, and the UK are focusing largely on developing IP for the industrial, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors. Moreover, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa regions are characterized by the emerging trend of AI and machine learning in smart cities, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles. For instance, Synopsys, Inc. announced that the VMM verification methodology, represented in the ARM-Synopsys Verification Methodology Manual (VMM), has been adopted by the leading electronics companies in China for developing advanced verification environments. The VMM methodology is used by various System-on-Chip (SoC) and silicon IP verification teams across the globe to speed the development of powerful SystemVerilog-based verification environments and to achieve measurable functional coverage goals in less time with little effort.
Competitive Landscape:
The market research report has also provided a comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape in the market. Competitive analysis such as market structure, key player positioning, top winning strategies, competitive dashboard, and company evaluation quadrant has been covered in the report. Also, detailed profiles of all major companies have been provided. Some of the major market players in the Semiconductor intellectual property (IP) industry include:
- Achronix Semiconductor Corporation
- ARM Ltd. (SoftBank Group Corp.)
- Cadence Design Systems Inc.
- CEVA Inc.
- eMemory Technology Incorporated
- Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group)
- Imagination Technologies Limited (Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, Inc.)
- Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
- Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens Aktiengesellschaft)
- Open-Silicon Inc. (SiFive)
- Rambus Inc.
- Synopsys Inc.
Key Questions Answered in This Report:
- How has the global semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?
- What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market?
- What are the key regional markets?
- What is the breakup of the market based on the IP type?
- What is the breakup of the market based on the revenue source?
- What is the breakup of the market based on the IP core?
- What is the breakup of the market based on the application?
- What is the breakup of the market based on the end use industry?
- What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?
- What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?
- What is the structure of the global semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market and who are the key players?
- What is the degree of competition in the industry?
Table of Contents
1 Preface3 Executive Summary13 Value Chain Analysis15 Price Analysis
2 Scope and Methodology
4 Introduction
5 Global Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) Market
6 Market Breakup by IP Type
7 Market Breakup by Revenue Source
8 Market Breakup by IP Core
9 Market Breakup by Application
10 Market Breakup by End Use Industry
11 Market Breakup by Region
12 SWOT Analysis
14 Porters Five Forces Analysis
16 Competitive Landscape
List of Figures
List of Tables
Companies Mentioned
- Achronix Semiconductor Corporation
- ARM Ltd. (SoftBank Group Corp.)
- Cadence Design Systems Inc.
- CEVA Inc.
- eMemory Technology Incorporated
- Fujitsu Limited (Furukawa Group)
- Imagination Technologies Limited (Canyon Bridge Capital Partners Inc.)
- Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
- Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens Aktiengesellschaft)
- Open-Silicon Inc. (SiFive)
- Rambus Inc.
- Synopsys Inc.
Table Information
| Report Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| No. of Pages | 125 |
| Published | August 2025 |
| Forecast Period | 2024 - 2033 |
| Estimated Market Value ( USD | $ 5.9 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value ( USD | $ 8.9 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 4.7% |
| Regions Covered | Global |
| No. of Companies Mentioned | 12 |
