US semiconductor market timeline for 2025
It was already a tumultuous year for the US semiconductor industry.
The semiconductor industry plays a considerable role in the “AI races,” where the US appears to be determined to win. Therefore, this context is worth noting:
Let’s take a look at what happened in the first half of 2025.
June
Intel appointed new leadership
June 18th – Intel has announced Four new leadership appointments Intel says it will help you move towards your goal of becoming an engineering-first company again. In addition to multiple well-known engineering recruiting, Intel has announced a new Chief Revenue Officer.
Intel to initiate layoffs
June 17th – Intel is starting Unlocking a significant portion of Intel Foundry staff July. The company plans to eliminate at least 15% and up to 20% of its business unit workers. These layoffs are not shocking. Rumors have been made in April, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he wanted to flatten the organization.
Nvidia will not report on China
June 13th – Nvidia is not immediately dependent on the US, which supports AI chip export restrictions. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company would do so after the company took a financial blow from the newly imposed licensing requirements with the H20 AI chip. The Chinese market is no longer included Future revenue and profit forecasts.
AMD acquires the team behind Untether AI
June 6th – AMD will make another acquisition – this time we focused on talent. company Hired a team behind Untether AIdevelops AI reasoning chips. This is because the semiconductor giant continues to round out its AI products.
AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI hardware advantage
June 4th – AMD continued shopping. company Acquired AI software optimization startup Briumhelps businesses to renovate their AI software and operate a variety of AI hardware. This acquisition is not surprising as many AI software is designed with NVIDIA hardware in mind.
May
Nvidia shows the impact of chip export restrictions
May 28th – Nvidia has reported US licensing requirements for H20 AI chips The company charges $4.5 billion During Q1. The company expects these requirements to hit Nvidia’s revenues by $8 billion in the second quarter.
AMD gets Enosemi
May 28th – AMD will begin the acquisition. Semiconductor Company It has announced that it has acquired Enosemia silicon photonics startup. Enosemi’s technology, which uses photons to transmit data, is becoming an area of interest for semiconductor companies.
Tensions begin to burn between China and the US
May 21st – China’s Secretary of Commerce warned that using Huawei AI chips “anywhere in the world” for US companies was a US chip export violation, as he didn’t like the US guidance issued on May 13. Secretary of Commerce A statement threatening legal action For those who are implementing the export restrictions.
Intel may be starting to offload non-core units
May 20th – Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan appears to be working on a plan to spin out Intel’s non-core business units. The semiconductor giant is reportedly reportedly Offload networking and edge unitsmanufactured chips for communications equipment and was responsible for the company’s 2024 revenue of $5.4 billion.
Biden administration’s AI spreading rules are officially dead
May 13th – A few days before the Biden administration’s artificial intelligence spreading rules were established, The US Department of Commerce has officially withdrawn it. Doc says it plans to issue new guidance in the future, and while companies should remember that using Huawei’s Ascend AI chip is a violation of US export rules.
Last minute flip
May 7th: A week before the “Artificial Intelligence Spreading Framework” is set up, the Trump administration plans to go a different path. According to multiple media outlets including axios and Bloombergthe administration will not enforce restrictions if it was due to begin on May 15th. Instead, they work on their own framework.
April
Humanity doubles support for chip export restrictions
April 30th: Humanity Doubled the support To limit US chip exports, including some adjustments to the AI spreading framework, such as imposing further restrictions on Tier 2 countries and dedicating resources to enforcement. Nvidia spokesman shot back“American businesses should focus on innovation and challenges. They don’t tell you that large, heavy, sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in “baby bumps” or “with live lobsters.” ”
Planning layoffs on Intel
April 22nd: Prior to the first quarter revenue call, Intel said it plans to do more layoffs 21,000 employees. This layoff was intended to streamline what CEO Rip Bhutan has been saying for a long time that Intel has had to do and helped rebuild the company’s engineering focus.
The Trump administration has also restricted chip exports
April 15th: Nvidia’s H20 AI chip hit with export Licensing requirementsthe company disclosed it in SEC filing. The company added that it expects a $5.5 billion fee associated with this new requirement in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. The H20 is the most advanced AI chip that Nvidia can somehow export to China. TSMC and Intel reported similar expenses in the same week.
Nvidia appears to be talking about how to get out of chip exports as well
April 9th: Nvidia CEO Jensen Fan was spotted attending dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar Lago According to reports, the resort. at that time, NPR reported Huang may not spare Nvidia’s H20AI chips from export restrictions when agreeing to invest in US AI data centers.
Suspicion of contract between Intel and TSMC
April 3rd: Intel and TSMC An interim agreement has been reportedly reached. Starting a joint chip making venture. The joint venture will operate Intel’s chipmaking facility, and TSMC will acquire a 20% stake in the new venture. Both companies declined to comment or confirm. If this transaction doesn’t come true, this is probably a neat preview of the potential transactions in this industry.
Intel has revolved its non-core assets and announced a new initiative
April 1st: CEO Lip-Bu Tan quickly got to work. Just a few weeks after he joined Intel, the company announced it was going to Spin-off non-core assets You can focus. He also said the company will launch new products, including custom semiconductors for its customers.
march
Intel gives a name to the new CEO
March 12th: Intel has been announced by industry veterans and former board members. Lip-Bu Tan returns to the company as CEO March 18th. At the time of his appointment, Tan said Intel would become an “engineering-centric company” under his leadership.
February
Intel’s Ohio Chip Plant is delayed again
February 28th: Intel was supposed to start operating its first chip manufacturing plant in Ohio this year. Instead, The company slowed construction In February, we went to the factory for the second time. Currently, the $28 billion semiconductor project will not be built until 2030 and may not be open until 2031.
Senators are calling for more chip export restrictions
February 3rd: US senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), wrote to Secretary of Commerce candidate Howard Lutnick. I urge the Trump administration to further restrict it AI chip export. This letter was specifically mentioned in the Nvidia H20 AI chip used in training Deepseek’s R1 “inference” model.
January
Deepseek releases an open “inference” model
January 27th: China’s AI startup deepseek It caused quite a stir in Silicon Valley when it was released Open version of the “inference” model of R1. This isn’t specifically semiconductor news, but pure alarms in the AI and semiconductor industry have sparked the release of Deepseek, which continues to have a ripple effect on the chip industry.
Presidential Order on Joe Biden’s Chip Export
January 13th: Former President Joe Biden after only one week left in office New proposed export restrictions Made in the USA AI chip. The order created a three-layer structure that determines how many US chips can be exported to each country. Under this proposal, tier 1 countries were not facing restrictions. Tier 2 countries have had chip purchase restrictions for the first time. There were additional restrictions in the three tier countries.
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei places emphasis on chip export restrictions
January 6th:Dario Amody, co-founder and CEO of humanity, Wall Street Journal It has approved existing AI chip export controls and points them out as the reason behind the US, China’s AI market. He also called for President Donald Trump to impose further restrictions and close the loopholes that allowed Chinese AI companies to continue to acquire these chips.