A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025

Summary

It’s already been a tumultuous year for the U.S. semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry plays a sizable role in the “AI race” that the U.S. seems determined to win, which is why this context is worth paying attention to: from Intel’s appointment of Lip-Bu Tan to CEO — who wasted no time getting to work trying to revitalize the legacy company — to Joe Biden proposing sweeping new AI chip export rules on his way out of office that never came to fruition. Here’s a look at what’s happened in the first half of 2025. June Intel appoints new leadership June 18 – Intel announced four new leadership appointments that Intel says will help it move toward its goal of becoming an engineering-first company again. Intel announced a new chief revenue officer in addition to multiple high-profile engineering hires. Intel to begin layoffs June 17 – Intel will begin to lay off a significant chunk of its Intel Foundry staff in July. The company plans to eliminate at least 15%, and up to 20%, of workers in that business unit. These layoffs aren’t a shock: It was rumored back in April, and Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan has said he wants to flatten the organization. Nvidia won’t report on China June 13 – Nvidia isn’t counting on the U.S. backing off of its AI chip export restrictions anytime soon. After the company took a financial hit from the newly imposed licensing requirements on its H20 AI chips, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company will no longer include the Chinese market in future revenue and profit forecasts. AMD acquires the team behind Untether AI June 6 – AMD makes another acquisition — this time focused on talent. The company acqui-hired the team behind Untether AI, which develops AI inference chips, as the semiconductor giant continues to round out its AI offerings. AMD is coming for Nvidia’s AI hardware dominance June 4 – AMD continued its shopping spree. The company acquired AI software optimization startup Brium, which helps companies retrofit AI software to work ...