A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025

The U.S. semiconductor industry in 2025 has experienced significant upheaval amid the intensifying global AI competition. Intel, under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, focused on restructuring and efficiency, canceling projects in Germany and Poland, consolidating test operations, and planning substantial layoffs of up to 20% in certain units. Intel also made key leadership hires to pivot back to an engineering-driven approach. Meanwhile, AMD expanded its AI hardware capabilities through acquisitions, including companies specializing in AI inference chips and software adaptation to compete more directly with Nvidia’s dominance. On the policy front, the Trump administration introduced an AI Action Plan emphasizing chip export controls and allied coordination, though specific restrictions remained undefined. Nvidia faced challenges due to U.S. export licensing requirements on AI chips, leading the company to exclude China-related revenue from forecasts and file applications to resume chip sales there, including launching a China-specific RTX Pro chip. The U.S. also grappled with national security concerns over AI chip sales to the UAE and