Last 12 months was a tumultuous one for the U.S. semiconductor trade.
From management modifications at legacy corporations to repeatedly altering dialogue round AI chip export controls, lots has occurred. If the first few weeks of 2026, which noticed new chip tariffs and worldwide semiconductor offers, are any indicator — this 12 months will likely be as surprising as the final.
But earlier than we get too deep into 2026, here’s a remaining have a look at the whole lot that occurred in the U.S. semiconductor trade in 2025:
December
Nvidia finds gold with Groq
December 24: Nvidia introduced that it struck a non-exclusive licensing take care of chip maker Groq. While this wasn’t an acquisition, Nvidia employed Groq’s founder and president, in addition to different workers. The firm additionally purchased $20 billion price of Groq’s belongings.
Chips to China
December 8: The U.S. Department of Commerce determined that Nvidia and AMD can ship AI chips to China in spite of everything, a stark reversal to previous messaging. The U.S. authorities particularly stated Nvidia might promote its H200 chips, that are rather more superior than its H20 chips, to permitted clients.
November
Nvidia retains climbing
November 19: Nvidia reported file outcomes in its third-quarter earnings report. The firm racked up $57 billion in income in Q3, a 66% enhance over the identical quarter in 2024. A massive portion of that income got here from Nvidia’s information heart enterprise.
October
Intel makes processor progress
October 9: Intel introduced a brand new processor, dubbed Panther Lake, that is an element of the firm’s Intel Core Ultra processor household. This will likely be the first one constructed on the firm’s 18A semiconductor course of and will likely be solely made at Intel’s Arizona fab manufacturing unit.
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September
A style of tariffs
September 26: We acquired the first inkling of what the Trump administration’s semiconductor tariffs might seem like at the finish of September. Rumors began swirling that the administration would require semiconductor corporations to supply the identical quantity of chips domestically as they do internationally, or they’d in any other case be topic to tariffs.
China shuts out Nvidia
September 17: China’s marketing campaign towards Nvidia continued when the nation advised its home corporations to not purchase Nvidia’s chips. The Cyberspace Administration of China banned native corporations from shopping for Nvidia’s chips in an effort to increase home chip gross sales.
China calls out Nvidia
September 15: Despite being given a unfastened inexperienced mild to begin promoting chips once more in China, the course of was not going to be clean crusing for Nvidia. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation dominated that Nvidia violated the nation’s antitrust rules concerning the firm’s 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies.
A management shakeup
September 9: Just a couple of quick weeks after the U.S. authorities took an fairness stake in Intel, the firm made some notable management modifications. Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the chief government officer of Intel merchandise, departed after three a long time. The firm additionally created a central engineering group.
August
Nvidia studies file quarter
August 27: The turmoil in the semiconductor market over the 12 months had clearly not damage Nvidia. On August 27, the firm reported that it had file gross sales in the second quarter. The highlights have been the development of its information heart enterprise, which noticed its income develop 56% 12 months over 12 months.
U.S. Government takes fairness stake in Intel
August 22: The U.S. authorities introduced it was changing current authorities grants into a ten% stake in Intel. The deal was structured to penalize Intel if the firm’s possession in its foundry program dropped beneath 50%.
SoftBank takes a stake in Intel
August 18: Japanese conglomerate SoftBank introduced it was taking a $2 billion stake in Intel. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son referred to as the deal “strategic.” The transaction was introduced as rumors have been swirling that the U.S. was going to take a stake in the firm.
Chip corporations strike a deal to promote in China
August 12: Nvidia and AMD introduced that they struck a take care of the U.S. authorities to realize the vital license to promote their AI chips in China. Both corporations agreed to pay the U.S. authorities 15% of income from their chip gross sales in China.
Trump and Lip-Bu Tan meet
August 11: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan went to the White House to fulfill with President Trump. The pair talked about Tan’s previous and the way Intel may also help the U.S. with its objective of bringing semiconductor manufacturing again to the U.S. Both referred to as the dialog productive.
Trump comes for Lip-Bu Tan
August 7: President Donald Trump demanded that Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan “resign immediately” attributable to “conflicts of interest” in a Truth Social publish. While Trump didn’t make clear what the conflicts of curiosity have been, this got here the day after Republican Senator Tom Cotton despatched a letter to Intel’s board of administrators inquiring about Tan’s ties to China.
Trump says tariffs are coming for the trade
August 5: President Donald Trump advised CNBC’s Squawk Box that he was planning to announce tariffs on the semiconductor trade as quickly as the following week. At the time, he didn’t point out specifics on what these tariffs might seem like. As of September 5, no tariffs have been introduced for this trade.
July
Intel spins out enterprise unit
July 25: Just in the future after its second-quarter earnings name, Intel confirmed that it was spinning out its Network and Edge group, which is answerable for making chips for the telecom trade. The enterprise unit produced $5.8 billion in income for the semiconductor firm in 2024.
Intel continues to search for effectivity
July 24: Intel introduced that it was pulling again on some of its manufacturing operations. The firm stated it should longer pursue its beforehand introduced tasks in Germany and Poland and that it was consolidating its take a look at operations. Intel additionally introduced it plans to finish this 12 months with round 75,000 workers.
Trump’s AI Action Plan
July 23: The Trump administration unveiled its much-anticipated AI Action Plan alongside a number of associated government orders. While the plan included lots concerning the want for U.S. chip export controls and for the U.S. to coordinate with its allies on this effort, it didn’t present concrete info on what these restrictions would seem like.
Groundbreaking UAE AI deal reportedly on maintain
July 17: The Trump administration helped foster a groundbreaking deal in May that resulted in a dedication from the United Arab Emirates to purchase billions of {dollars}’ price of AI chips from Nvidia. But now that deal was reportedly on maintain as the U.S. labored by nationwide safety issues and fears that these chips may very well be smuggled from the Middle East to China.
Nvidia is a bargaining chip
July 16: A day after semiconductor corporations like Nvidia and AMD acquired the inexperienced mild to renew promoting sure AI chips to China, we came upon why. U.S. Commerce Security Howard Lutnick stated the plans to permit U.S. corporations to begin promoting AI chips in China are tied to ongoing commerce discussions between the U.S. and China concerning uncommon earth parts.
U.S. chips head again to China
July 14: Nvidia stated it was submitting an utility to restart gross sales of H20 AI chips in China, confirming rumors from a couple of weeks prior. The firm additionally introduced that it could be promoting a brand new chip, the RTX Pro, which was designed particularly for the Chinese market.
Malaysia fights chip smuggling
July 14: Malaysia introduced that it was launching commerce permits for U.S.-made AI chips. Under this new restriction, any particular person or enterprise would wish 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 stated will assist it transfer towards its objective of changing into an engineering-first firm once more. Intel introduced a brand new chief income officer in addition to a number of high-profile engineering hires.
Intel started layoffs
June 17: Intel started shedding a big chunk of its Intel Foundry workers in July, based on numerous media studies. The firm later confirmed it was restructuring. Reports stated it deliberate to get rid of 15% to twenty%, of employees in that enterprise unit. These layoffs weren’t a shock: Layoffs have been rumored again in April, and Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan had stated he desires to flatten the group.
Nvidia gained’t report on China
June 13: Nvidia wasn’t relying on the U.S. backing off from its AI chip export restrictions. After the firm took a monetary hit from the newly imposed licensing necessities on its H20 AI chips, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated the firm will now not embody the Chinese market in future income and revenue forecasts.
AMD acquired the crew behind Untether AI
June 6: AMD made one other acquisition — this time centered on expertise. The firm acqui-hired the crew behind Untether AI, which develops AI inference chips, as the semiconductor large continues to spherical out its AI choices.
AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI {hardware} dominance
June 4: AMD continued its buying spree. The firm acquired AI software program optimization startup Brium, which helps corporations retrofit AI software program to work with completely different AI {hardware}. With lots of AI software program being designed with Nvidia {hardware} in thoughts, this acquisition isn’t stunning.
May
Nvidia laid out the affect of chip export restrictions
May 28: Nvidia reported that U.S. licensing necessities on its H20 AI chips value the firm $4.5 billion in costs throughout Q1. The firm anticipated these necessities to outcome in an $8 billion hit to Nvidia’s income in Q2.
AMD acquired Enosemi
May 28: AMD kicked 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 changing into an growing space of curiosity for semiconductor corporations.
Tensions began to flare between China and the U.S.
May 21: China’s Commerce Secretary didn’t like the U.S. steering, issued on May 13, that warned U.S. corporations that utilizing Huawei’s AI chips “anywhere in the world” was a U.S. chip export violation. The commerce secretary issued an announcement that threatened authorized motion towards anybody caught imposing that export restriction.
Intel started the course of to dump items
May 20: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan seemingly acquired proper to work on his plan to spin out Intel’s non-core enterprise items. Back in May, the semiconductor large was reportedly seeking to offload its Networking and Edge items, which make chips for telecom gear, and was answerable for $5.4 billion of the firm’s 2024 income.
The Biden administration’s AI Diffusion rule was formally useless
May 13: Just days earlier than the Biden administration’s Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Rule was set to enter place, the U.S. Department of Commerce formally rescinded it. The DOC stated that it plans to problem new steering in the future, and in the meantime, corporations ought to keep in mind that utilizing Huawei’s Ascend AI chips anyplace in the world is a violation of U.S. export guidelines.
A last-minute reversal
May 7: Just per week earlier than the “Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion” was set to enter place, the Trump administration deliberate on taking a unique path. According to a number of media shops, together with Axios and Bloomberg, the administration wouldn’t implement the restrictions once they have been supposed to begin on May 15 and is as a substitute 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 Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, like imposing additional restrictions on Tier 2 international locations and dedicating sources to enforcement. An Nvidia spokesperson shot again, saying, “American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters.’”
Planned layoffs at Intel
April 22: Ahead of its Q1 earnings name, Intel stated it was planning to put off greater than 21,000 workers. The layoffs have been meant to streamline administration, one thing CEO Lip-Bu Tan has lengthy stated Intel wanted to do, and assist rebuild the firm’s engineering focus.
The Trump administration additional restricts chip exports
April 15: Nvidia’s H20 AI chip acquired hit with an export licensing requirement, the firm disclosed in an SEC submitting. The firm added that it anticipated $5.5 billion in costs associated to this new requirement in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal 12 months. The H20 was the most superior AI chip Nvidia can nonetheless export to China in some vogue. TSMC and Intel reported comparable bills the identical week.
Nvidia seems to speak its method out of additional chip exports
April 9: Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang was noticed attending dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, based on studies. At the time, NPR reported Huang might have been in a position to spare Nvidia’s H20 AI chips from export restrictions upon agreeing to speculate in AI information facilities in 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 services, and TSMC would have a 20% stake in the new enterprise. Both corporations declined to remark or verify. If this deal doesn’t come to fruition, that is probably an honest preview of potential offers in the trade to come back.
Intel warned it should spin off non-core belongings
April 1: CEO Lip-Bu Tan set to work straight away. Just weeks after he joined Intel, the firm introduced that it was going to spin off non-core belongings so it might focus. He additionally stated the firm would launch new merchandise, together with customized semiconductors for purchasers.
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 firm as CEO on March 18. At the time of his appointment, Tan stated Intel could be an “engineering-focused company” 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 12 months. Instead, the firm slowed down development on the plant for the second time in February. Now the $28 billion semiconductor challenge 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 have been used in the coaching of DeepSeek’s R1 “reasoning” mannequin.
January
DeepSeek releases its open “reasoning” mannequin
January 27: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek brought on fairly the stir in Silicon Valley when it launched the open model of its R1 “reasoning” mannequin. While this isn’t semiconductor information particularly, the sheer alarm in the AI and semiconductor industries DeepSeek brought on 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 may be exported to every nation. Under this proposal, Tier 1 international locations confronted no restrictions; Tier 2 international locations had a chip buy restrict for the first time; and Tier 3 international locations acquired 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 Street 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 referred to 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 palms on these chips.
This story was initially printed on May 9, 2025, and is commonly up to date with new info.
