The Trump administration is reportedly weighing a plan to take a 10% stake in Intel, potentially making the US government the chipmaker’s largest shareholder. The move, under discussion through a conversion of Chips Act subsidies into equity, marks an escalation of Washington’s intervention in strategic industries.

China’s semiconductor industry continues to expand capacity in mature process chips while strengthening self-production of AI chips, especially as the Chinese AI sector gained momentum with the debut of DeepSeek. Due to ongoing US restrictions on semiconductor exports to China, Nvidia’s AI chips have become unavailable. Although Nvidia’s H20 chips were recently conditionally approved by the US government, Chinese authorities are fostering an environment that discourages the use of H20 within China.

The 20% reciprocal tariff imposed by the United States on exports from Taiwan officially took effect on August 7, 2025, covering most traditional industries. The impact varies across sectors depending on industry characteristics, product types, and competition from other countries. Higher prices quoted to US customers have already led to noticeable order declines for machine tools, hand tools, and plumbing hardware.