Semiconductor News 20250820

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1. Major Investment in Intel and Government Support The SoftBank Group will invest $2 billion in Intel to strengthen ties in the U.S. semiconductor field. In addition, the U.S. government is also considering acquiring a 10% stake in Intel in return for subsidies and is exploring a new model of industry control. These moves will provide a major boost to Intel’s turnaround and to the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry.
2. U.S. Tariff Threats and Predicted Economic Slowdown The possibility of the United States imposing tariffs of up to 300% has emerged, and TSMC, Taiwan’s leading chipmaker, is unfazed by this. These comprehensive tariff measures are projected to potentially cause a broad-based economic slowdown in the second half of 2025.
3. NVIDIA ‘s AI Chip Development for China NVIDIA is developing a new “Blackwell” AI chip with limited performance for the Chinese market, with test samples expected to be available in September. This is a strategic response to NVIDIA’s efforts to maintain a presence in the Chinese market amid ongoing U.S. export restrictions.
4. Arm Hires Amazon AI Executive Arm has hired a director of Amazon’s AI chip division to accelerate its own chip development plans. The talent acquisition increases Arm’s competitiveness in the AI chip market and demonstrates the company’s focus on developing its own processors.
5. AMD ‘s x86 Processor Market Share Gains for Servers In the second quarter of 2025, AMD captured a record 41% share of the x86 processor market in the server segment. This represents a significant strengthening of AMD’s competitive edge over Intel in the data center and cloud computing markets.
6. TSMC ‘s Production Line Strategy Change TSMC has clarified its policy of discontinuing its 6-inch production line and focusing on the production of larger wafers (大尺寸晶圓). This is a strategic shift to further enhance TSMC’s competitive advantage by improving production efficiency and concentrating resources on leading-edge process technologies.
7. China’ s AI semiconductor self-sufficiency rate and continued demand China has set an ambitious goal of increasing its AI semiconductor self-sufficiency rate to over 70% and is aiming to become NVIDIA-independent. Despite the uncertain sales of NVIDIA H20, demand for AI chips and HBM (high bandwidth memory) devices in China remains strong.
8. Intel’s Challenges with Advanced Process Technology and Samsung’s Yield Issues While some believe that reports of Intel’s halt of 1.4nm process development were premature, Samsung is reportedly facing yield difficulties with its advanced process. This suggests technological challenges in next-generation semiconductor manufacturing and intense competition among major foundries.
9. Tracking Devices Installed on AI Chip Cargoes in the U.S. It has come to light that the U.S. government is installing tracking devices on AI chip cargoes. This appears to be part of an effort to strengthen supply chain controls to prevent certain technologies from being diverted to unintended uses or leaked illegally due to national security concerns.
10. Continued Growth in Global Semiconductor Sales In June 2025, global semiconductor sales increased 19% year over year, marking the 20th consecutive month of positive growth. This solid growth indicates that the semiconductor market as a whole is on an expansionary path, supported by strong demand, despite global economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.

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