SemiAnalysis
U.S. independent tech industry research
Background
Dylan Patel launched SemiAnalysis in May 2020 as a personal blog on WordPress, aiming to provide independent technical analysis of the semiconductor industry. He grew up in rural Georgia, attended the University of Georgia, and spent roughly a year and a half as a beekeeper before entering the semiconductor field. The publication migrated to Substack and shifted to a paid subscription model as it grew. By the mid-2020s it had expanded to a team of more than 15 analysts across five countries and built a physical chip teardown lab in Oregon called STEEL. Revenue grew rapidly — from roughly $20 million in one year to projections above $100 million in 2026 — driven by institutional clients including major chip companies, hyperscalers, and hedge funds. In 2025–2026 SemiAnalysis became embroiled in two lawsuits in San Francisco Superior Court: one in which it accused former employee Wei Zhou of misappropriating trade secrets, and a counter-suit in which Zhou alleged he was fired for refusing to insert material non-public information tied to Patel's personal $50 million investment into client-facing research models. The firm also drew criticism over its InferenceX benchmarking system for awarding a top rating to FluidStack, a company in which Patel had a personal financial stake. These controversies raised questions about the separation between Patel's investment activities and SemiAnalysis's paid research products.
Sources
- Dylan Patel's SemiAnalysis Projects Over $100 Million In 2026 Revenue — The Information
- How Dylan Patel and SemiAnalysis Grabbed Sway in Silicon Valley — The Information
- SemiAnalysis faces 2 lawsuits over data use and trade secrets — Edgen
- Influence as a Service: SemiAnalysis Under the Microscope — Jon4HotAisle Substack
- Dylan Patel|Lost in Life to Founding SemiAnalysis — Yesterday Media
- 2025 AI Diffusion Export Controls — SemiAnalysis Newsletter
- SemiAnalysis AI RFI 2025 Submission — NITRD
- 29-Year-Old Founder Builds AI Research Empire — BigGo Finance
Profile compiled 2026-07-06; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.