The partition function on the three-sphere of many supersymmetric Chern-Simons-matter theories reduces, by localization, to a matrix model. We develop a new method to study these models in the M-theory limit, but at all orders in the 1/N expansion. The method is based on reformulating the matrix model as the partition function of an ideal Fermi gas with a non-trivial, one-particle quantum Hamiltonian. This new approach leads to a completely elementary derivation of the N^{3/2} behavior for ABJM theory and N=3 quiver Chern-Simons-matter theories. In addition, the full series of 1/N corrections to the original matrix integral can be simply determined by a next-to-leading calculation in the WKB or semiclassical expansion of the quantum gas, and we show that, for several quiver Chern-Simons-matter theories, it is given by an Airy function. This generalizes a recent result of Fuji, Hirano and Moriyama for ABJM theory. It turns out that the semiclassical expansion of the Fermi gas corresponds to a strong coupling expansion in type IIA theory, and it is dual to the genus expansion. This allows us to calculate explicitly non-perturbative effects due to D2-brane instantons in the AdS background.