Semiconductor News 20250807

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1. Trump Announces 100% Tariff on Imported Semiconductors, Reinforces Domestic Production Preferences Former President Trump announced his intention to impose a tariff of approximately 100% on all imported semiconductors to the United States. Domestically produced goods will be exempted. This policy affects about 20% of Taiwanese companies’ sales, accelerating Apple’s plans to build a silicon supply chain in the US and TSMC’s massive investment plans in the US. This is a policy shift that will have a major impact on global semiconductor trade.
2. TSMC’s 2nm Technology Information Leak Uncovered Confidential information on TSMC’s 2nm process was reportedly leaked by an engineer at a coffee shop. This information was suspected to have leaked to Rapidus in Japan, and TEL was the target of a search. The incident highlights the delicate relationship in the semiconductor field between TEL, Rapidus, Taiwan, and Japan.
3. Intel 18A Process Yield as Low as 10% Raises Concerns about Panther Lake Pl ans Doubts are being cast on future Panther Lake plans after the yield at risk production on Intel’s next-generation 18A process is reported to be only 10%. This could seriously impact Intel’s roadmap and competitiveness and represents a challenge for the company’s technology development.
4. Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 7.8% in Q2 2025, Indicating Market Recovery Global semiconductor sales increased 7.8% from Q1 to Q2 2025, with monthly sales up 1.5% in June. This solid growth is a positive sign for the industry, as it suggests a recovery and increased demand in the overall semiconductor market.
5. Nvidia Denies Allegations of “Backdoors” and “Killswitches” in AI GPUs In response to reports that China is investigating whether Nvidia’s H20 AI chips have backdoors, Nvidia has denied the allegations and assured customers that there are no backdoors, killswitches, or spyware of any kind in its GPUs Nvidia has assured customers that there are no backdoors, kill switches or spyware on its GPUs. National security concerns are growing as the U.S. government considers tracking requirements.
6. Huawei Open-Sources AI Software Stack to Compete with NVIDIA CUDA Huawei has announced its intention to open source its own AI software stack to compete with NVIDIA’s CUDA. This has been touted as a strategic move to increase China’s independence in AI technology and increase competition in the AI ecosystem.
7. Apple has established an end-to-end silicon supply chain in the U.S. Apple has become the first company to establish a complete “end-to-end” silicon supply chain in the U.S. Applied Materials is also working with Apple and Texas Instruments to enhance chip manufacturing in the U.S. Samsung is also reported to be producing Apple’s next-generation chips at its U.S. plant, signaling a shift to domestic production.
8. AMD Enables OpenAI’s GPT-OSS AI Models to Run on Ryzen/Radeon AMD has enabled OpenAI’s GPT-OSS 20B and 120B AI models to run on Ryzen and Radeon hardware. In particular, the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 has a huge 128GB memory pool, making it the only AI chip capable of running 120B models on its own, demonstrating AMD’s competitiveness in the AI space.
9. OpenAI Offers ChatGPT Enterprise to U.S. Government for $1 OpenAI has made a strategic move by offering ChatGPT Enterprise to U.S. government agencies for just $1. This is seen as a groundbreaking power play in the field of AI to dominate the federal government’s technology sector before rivals catch up.
10. ASE Challenges TSMC’s Photonics Strategy with Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) Push ASE is stepping up its efforts in co-packaged optics (CPO) technology against the backdrop of AI’s revolution in semiconductor design. This is a move that will compete with TSMC’s photonics strategy and is notable as a move that will enable silicon diversity in the AI cluster as competition in the advanced packaging arena intensifies.

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