It’s already been a tumultuous 12 months for the U.S. semiconductor business.
The semiconductor business performs a large position within the “AI race” that the U.S. appears decided to win, which is why this context is value being attentive to: from Intel’s appointment of Lip-Bu Tan to CEO — who wasted no time attending to work attempting to revitalize the legacy firm — to Joe Biden proposing sweeping new AI chip export guidelines on his manner out of workplace that by no means got here to fruition.
Right here’s a take a look at what’s occurred within the first half of 2025.
June
Intel appoints new management
June 18 – Intel introduced 4 new management appointments that Intel says will assist it transfer towards its aim of changing into an engineering-first firm once more. Intel introduced a brand new chief income officer along with a number of high-profile engineering hires.
Intel to start layoffs
June 17 – Intel will start to put off a major chunk of its Intel Foundry workers in July. The corporate plans to eradicate a minimum of 15%, and as much as 20%, of staff in that enterprise unit. These layoffs aren’t a shock: It was rumored again in April, and Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan has mentioned he desires to flatten the group.
Nvidia received’t report on China
June 13 – Nvidia isn’t relying on the U.S. backing off of its AI chip export restrictions anytime quickly. After the corporate took a monetary hit from the newly imposed licensing necessities on its H20 AI chips, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang mentioned the corporate will not embody the Chinese language market in future income and revenue forecasts.
AMD acquires the workforce behind Untether AI
June 6 – AMD makes one other acquisition — this time targeted on expertise. The corporate acqui-hired the workforce behind Untether AI, which develops AI inference chips, because the semiconductor large continues to spherical out its AI choices.
AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI {hardware} dominance
June 4 – AMD continued its purchasing spree. The corporate acquired AI software program optimization startup Brium, which helps corporations retrofit AI software program to work with totally different AI {hardware}. With numerous AI software program being designed with Nvidia {hardware} in thoughts, this acquisition isn’t shocking.
Might
Nvidia lays out the influence of chip export restrictions
Might 28 – Nvidia reported that U.S. licensing necessities on its H20 AI chips price the corporate $4.5 billion in costs throughout Q1. The corporate expects these necessities to end in an $8 billion hit to Nvidia’s income in Q2.
AMD acquires Enosemi
Might 28 – AMD kicks off its acquisition spree. The semiconductor firm introduced that it acquired Enosemi, a silicon photonics startup. Enosemi’s tech, which makes use of gentle photons to transmit information, is changing into an rising space of curiosity for semiconductor corporations.
Tensions begin to flare between China and the U.S.
Might 21 – China’s Commerce Secretary didn’t just like the U.S.’s steerage, issued on Might 13, that warned U.S. corporations that utilizing Huawei’s AI chips “wherever on the planet” was a U.S. chip export violation. The commerce secretary issued a press release that threatened authorized motion towards anybody caught implementing that export restriction.
Intel could also be beginning to offload its non-core items
Might 20 – Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan seemingly received proper to work on his plan to spin out Intel’s non-core enterprise items. The semiconductor large is reportedly seeking to offload its networking and edge items, which makes chips for telecom tools, and was chargeable for $5.4 billion of the corporate’s 2024 income.
The Biden administration’s AI Diffusion rule is formally lifeless
Might 13 – Simply days earlier than the Biden administration’s Synthetic Intelligence Diffusion Rule was set to enter place, the U.S. Division of Commerce formally rescinded it. The DOC mentioned that it plans to subject new steerage sooner or later, and within the meantime corporations ought to keep in mind that utilizing Huawei’s Ascend AI chips wherever on the planet is a violation of U.S. export guidelines.
A final-minute reversal
Might 7: Only a week earlier than the “Framework for Synthetic Intelligence Diffusion” was set to enter place, the Trump administration plans on taking a unique path. Based on a number of media shops, together with Axios and Bloomberg, the administration received’t implement the restrictions once they had been supposed to begin on Might 15 and is as an alternative working by itself framework.
April
Anthropic doubles down on its help of chip export restrictions
April 30: Anthropic doubled down on its help for proscribing U.S.-made chip exports, together with some tweaks to the Framework for Synthetic Intelligence Diffusion, like imposing additional restrictions on Tier 2 international locations and dedicating assets to enforcement. An Nvidia spokesperson shot again, saying, “American companies ought to give attention to innovation and rise to the problem, reasonably than inform tall tales that enormous, heavy, and delicate electronics are one way or the other smuggled in ‘child bumps’ or ‘alongside dwell lobsters.’”
Deliberate layoffs at Intel
April 22: Forward of its Q1 earnings name, Intel mentioned it was planning to put off greater than 21,000 staff. The layoffs had been meant to streamline administration, one thing CEO Lip-Bu Tan has lengthy mentioned Intel wanted to do, and assist rebuild the corporate’s engineering focus.
The Trump administration additional restricts chip exports
April 15: Nvidia’s H20 AI chip received hit with an export licensing requirement, the corporate disclosed in an SEC submitting. The corporate added it expects $5.5 billion in costs associated to this new requirement within the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal 12 months. The H20 is essentially the most superior AI chip Nvidia can nonetheless export to China in some type or vogue. TSMC and Intel reported comparable bills the identical week.
Nvidia seems to speak its manner out of additional chip exports
April 9: Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang was noticed attending dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, in line with stories. On the time, NPR reported Huang might have been in a position to spare Nvidia’s H20 AI chips from export restrictions upon agreeing to spend money on AI information facilities within the U.S.
An alleged settlement between Intel and TSMC
April 3: Intel and TSMC allegedly reached a tentative settlement to launch a joint chipmaking enterprise. This three way partnership would function Intel’s chipmaking amenities, and TSMC would have a 20% stake within the new enterprise. Each corporations declined to remark or verify. If this deal doesn’t come to fruition, that is seemingly an honest preview of potential offers on this business to return.
Intel spins off noncore property, pronounces new initiative
April 1: CEO Lip-Bu Tan set to work immediately. Simply weeks after he joined Intel, the corporate introduced that it was going to spin off noncore property so it might focus. He additionally mentioned the corporate would launch new merchandise, together with customized semiconductors for patrons.
March
Intel names a brand new CEO
March 12: Intel introduced that business veteran, and former board member, Lip-Bu Tan would return to the corporate as CEO on March 18. On the time of his appointment, Tan mentioned Intel could be an “engineering-focused firm” beneath his management.
February
Intel’s Ohio chip plant will get delayed once more
February 28: Intel was supposed to begin working its first chip fabrication plant in Ohio this 12 months. As an alternative, the corporate slowed down building on the plant for the second time in February. Now the $28 billion semiconductor undertaking received’t wrap up building till 2030 and will not even open till 2031.
Senators name for extra chip export restrictions
February 3: U.S. senators, together with Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo), wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Nominee-Designate Howard Lutnick urging the Trump administration to additional limit AI chip exports. The letter particularly referred to Nvidia’s H20 AI chips, which had been used within the coaching of DeepSeek’s R1 “reasoning” mannequin.
January
DeepSeek releases its open “reasoning” mannequin
January 27: Chinese language AI startup DeepSeek triggered fairly the stir in Silicon Valley when it launched the open model of its R1 “reasoning” mannequin. Whereas this isn’t semiconductor information particularly, the sheer alarm within the AI and semiconductor industries DeepSeek’s launch triggered continues to have ripple results on the chip business.
Joe Biden’s govt order on chip exports
January 13: With only a week left in workplace, former president Joe Biden proposed sweeping new export restrictions on U.S.-made AI chips. This order created a three-tier construction that decided what number of U.S. chips might be exported to every nation. Below this proposal, Tier 1 international locations confronted no restrictions; Tier 2 international locations had a chip buy restrict for the primary time; and Tier 3 international locations received further restrictions.
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei weighs in on chip export restrictions
January 6: Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei co-wrote an op-ed in The Wall Road Journal endorsing current AI chip export controls and pointing to them as a motive why China’s AI market was behind the U.S.’. He additionally known as on incoming president Donald Trump to impose additional restrictions and to shut loopholes which have allowed AI corporations in China to nonetheless get their arms on these chips.
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