It’s been a tumultuous yr for the U.S. semiconductor trade.
The semiconductor trade performs a large position within the “AI race” that the U.S. appears decided to win, which is why this context is value taking note of: 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 means out of workplace that by no means got here to fruition.
Right here’s a take a look at what’s occurred thus far in 2025.
July
Intel continues to search for effectivity
July 24: Intel introduced that that it was pulling again on a few of its manufacturing operations. The corporate will not pursue its beforehand introduced initiatives in Germany and Poland, and is consolidating its check operations. Intel additionally introduced it plans to finish this yr with round 75,000 workers.
Trump’s AI Motion Plan
July 23: The Trump administration unveiled its much-anticipated AI Motion Plan alongside a number of associated government orders. Whereas the plan features a lot concerning the necessity for U.S. chip export controls, and for the U.S. to coordinate with its allies on this effort, it doesn’t present any concrete data on what these restrictions would appear like.
Groundbreaking UAE AI deal reportedly on maintain
July 17: The Trump administration helped foster a groundbreaking deal in Could that resulted in a dedication from the United Arab Emirates to purchase billions of {dollars} value of AI chips from Nvidia. However now that deal is reportedly on maintain because the U.S. works by nationwide safety considerations and fears that these chips might be smuggled from the Center East to China.
Nvidia is a bargaining chip
July 16: A day after semiconductor corporations like Nvidia and AMD bought the inexperienced mild to renew promoting sure AI chips to China we discovered why. U.S. Commerce Safety Howard Lutnick mentioned the plans to permit U.S. firms to begin promoting AI chips in China is tied to ongoing commerce discussions between the U.S. and China concerning uncommon earth components.
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U.S. Chips head again to China
July 14: Nvidia mentioned it was submitting an software to restart gross sales of H20 AI chips in China, confirming rumors from a couple of weeks prior. The corporate additionally introduced that it could be promoting a brand new chip, the RTX Professional, which was designed particularly for the Chinese language market.
Malaysia fights chip smuggling
July 14: Malaysia introduced that it was launching commerce permits for U.S.-made AI chips. Beneath this new restriction, any particular person or enterprise would want to present the Malaysian authorities 30 days discover earlier than exporting any U.S. AI chips.
June
Intel appoints new management
June 18: Intel introduced 4 new management appointments that Intel says will assist it transfer towards its aim of turning 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 employees in July. The corporate plans to remove no less than 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 needs to flatten the group.
Nvidia gained’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 crew behind Untether AI
June 6: AMD makes one other acquisition — this time centered on expertise. The corporate acqui-hired the crew behind Untether AI, which develops AI inference chips, because the semiconductor big continues to spherical out its AI choices.
AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI {hardware} dominance
June 4: AMD continued its buying spree. The corporate acquired AI software program optimization startup Brium, which helps firms retrofit AI software program to work with totally different AI {hardware}. With quite a lot of AI software program being designed with Nvidia {hardware} in thoughts, this acquisition isn’t shocking.
Could
Nvidia lays out the affect of chip export restrictions
Could 28: Nvidia reported that U.S. licensing necessities on its H20 AI chips value the corporate $4.5 billion in expenses throughout Q1. The corporate expects these necessities to end in an $8 billion hit to Nvidia’s income in Q2.
AMD acquires Enosemi
Could 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 mild photons to transmit information, is turning into an rising space of curiosity for semiconductor firms.
Tensions begin to flare between China and the U.S.
Could 21: China’s Commerce Secretary didn’t just like the U.S.’s steering, issued on Could 13, that warned U.S. firms that utilizing Huawei’s AI chips “wherever on the earth” was a U.S. chip export violation. The commerce secretary issued a press release that threatened authorized motion in opposition to anybody caught implementing that export restriction.
Intel could also be beginning to offload its non-core items
Could 20: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan seemingly bought proper to work on his plan to spin out Intel’s non-core enterprise items. The semiconductor big is reportedly trying to offload its networking and edge items, which makes chips for telecom tools, and was accountable for $5.4 billion of the corporate’s 2024 income.
The Biden administration’s AI Diffusion rule is formally useless
Could 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 concern new steering sooner or later, and within the meantime firms ought to do not forget that utilizing Huawei’s Ascend AI chips wherever on the earth is a violation of U.S. export guidelines.
A final-minute reversal
Could 7: Only a week earlier than the “Framework for Synthetic Intelligence Diffusion” was set to enter place, the Trump administration plans on taking a distinct path. In line with a number of media retailers, together with Axios and Bloomberg, the administration gained’t implement the restrictions once they had been supposed to begin on Could 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 limiting 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 corporations ought to give attention to innovation and rise to the problem, moderately than inform tall tales that giant, heavy, and delicate electronics are one way or the other smuggled in ‘child bumps’ or ‘alongside reside 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 workers. 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 bought hit with an export licensing requirement, the corporate disclosed in an SEC submitting. The corporate added it expects $5.5 billion in expenses associated to this new requirement within the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal yr. The H20 is essentially the most superior AI chip Nvidia can nonetheless export to China in some type or trend. TSMC and Intel reported comparable bills the identical week.
Nvidia seems to speak its means 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 response to studies. 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 put money into 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 firms declined to remark or verify. If this deal doesn’t come to fruition, that is possible an honest preview of potential offers on this trade to come back.
Intel spins off noncore belongings, broadcasts new initiative
April 1: CEO Lip-Bu Tan set to work straight away. Simply weeks after he joined Intel, the corporate introduced that it was going to spin off noncore belongings 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 trade 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” below 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 yr. As a substitute, the corporate slowed down development on the plant for the second time in February. Now the $28 billion semiconductor undertaking gained’t wrap up development till 2030 and should 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 trade.
Joe Biden’s government 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 could be exported to every nation. Beneath 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 bought extra 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 Avenue Journal endorsing present AI chip export controls and pointing to them as a purpose why China’s AI market was behind the U.S.’. He additionally referred to as on incoming president Donald Trump to impose additional restrictions and to shut loopholes which have allowed AI firms in China to nonetheless get their fingers on these chips.
This story initially printed Could 9, 2025, and is commonly up to date with new data.
