This has been a turbulent year for the US semiconductor industry.
The semiconductor industry plays a big role in the "AI competition" that the United States seems determined to win, which is why it is worth noting: Appointing Lip-bu Tan from Intel (they didn't waste time trying to revive traditional companies) - Revitalizing joe biden to CEO, promoting his new AI class with Joe Biden's efforts, with Joe Biden's scope, which may not actually be in the class, which may not actually be in the scope.
This is what has happened since the beginning of this year.
May 7: The Trump administration plans to take a different path a week before the “Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Framework” is about to come into place. According to multiple media outlets including Axios and Bloomberg, the government will not enforce restrictions when it starts on April 15, but will work on its own framework.
April 30: Anthropomorphism has doubled its support for restricting chip exports made in the United States, including some adjustments to the AI proliferation framework, such as further restrictions on Level 2 countries and providing dedicated resources for law enforcement. A NVIDIA spokesman strikes back: “U.S. companies should focus on innovation and face challenges rather than telling tall people stories, large, heavy and sensitive electronics are smuggled in some way in “baby collisions” or “with live lobsters.”
April 22: Intel said ahead of its first-quarter revenue call that it plans to lay off more than 21,000 employees. CEO Lip-bu Tan has long said it would do it and help rebuild the company's engineering priorities.
April 15: The company disclosed in SEC filing that NVIDIA's H20 AI chip was hit by an export license requirement. The company added that it expects the expenses associated with this new requirement in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 are $5.5 billion. H20 is the most advanced AI chip NVIDIA can still be exported to China in some form or way. TSMC and Intel reported similar fees in the same week.
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Book nowApril 9: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was reportedly spotted attending a dinner at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. At the time, NPR reported that Huang may have been able to exempt NVIDIA's H20 AI chip from export restrictions and agreed to invest in AI data centers in the United States.
April 3: Intel and TSMC allegedly reached a tentative agreement to embark on a joint chip manufacturing adventure. The joint venture will operate Intel's chip manufacturing facility and TSMC will own 20% of the new enterprise. Both companies declined to comment or confirm. If the deal is not implemented, then this could be a decent preview of potential deals in the industry.
April 1: CEO Lip-Bu Tan started working immediately. A few weeks after his joining Intel, the company announced it would tear down non-core assets in order to focus it. He also said the company will launch new products, including custom semiconductors for customers.
March 12: Intel announced that industry veteran and former board member Lip-bu Tan will return to the company as CEO on March 18. Tan said during his appointment that he would become Intel's "engineering-centric company."
February 28: Intel should have started operating its first chip manufacturing plant in Ohio this year. Instead, the company slowed down the construction of the factory for the second time in February. Now, the $28 billion semiconductor project will not be completed until 2030, and may even wait until 2031.
February 3: U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), wrote to Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, urging the Trump administration to further restrict AI chip exports. The letter specifically mentions NVIDIA's H20 AI chips, which are used to train DeepSeek's R1 "inference" model.
January 27: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has released an open version of the R1 "inference" model, causing a sensation in Silicon Valley. Although this is not semiconductor news, the sheer alarm caused by the release of DeepSeek in the AI and semiconductor industry will still have a ripple effect on the chip industry.
January 13: Former President Joe Biden has only one week left to propose new export restrictions on US-made AI chips. The command creates a three-layer structure that determines how much American chips can be exported to each country. According to the proposal, there are no restrictions in Level 1 countries. Level 2 countries adopt chip purchase limits for the first time; Level 3 countries have other restrictions.
January 6: Dario Amodei, anthropomorphic co-founder and CEO, co-wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal acknowledges existing AI chip export controls and points it to why China's AI market lags behind the United States. He also called on the forthcoming President Donald Trump to impose further restrictions and close loopholes so that Chinese AI companies can still access these chips.