Round-up
Highlights
- Beijing blinks first: China began handing out exemptions to its eye-watering 125 % retaliatory duties on select U.S. semiconductors, a move mirrored by White-House back-channel signals of de-escalation12.
- Intel’s bad day gets worse: A down-beat Q2 outlook, looming layoffs, and a 6 % share slide erased the honeymoon for new CEO Lip-Bu Tan34; demand is tilting toward yesterday’s chips as customers hoard cheaper parts ahead of tariff swings5.
- Baidu lights a monster AI cluster: The Chinese giant “illuminated” a 30,000-chip Kunlun P800 super-cluster and rolled out Ernie 4.5 Turbo, claiming state-of-the-art benchmarks6.
Other developments:
- Easing-trade optimism nudged global equity indices higher78
- Intel outlined a home-grown AI strategy to chase Nvidia9
- A stealth startup says it can 3-D-print wafers 90 % cheaper10
- Memory maker Longsys pivoted to auto-grade flash at Auto Shanghai 202511
- TrendForce spies signs that Beijing’s tariff carve-outs will exclude U.S. storage chips for now12.
Did You Know?
Baidu’s P800 cluster strings 30 thousand 150-W accelerators together; at full tilt it would pull roughly 4.5 MW — enough to power a small U.S. town for AI training night-shifts6.
In-depth
1 Government & Corporate Policy
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Selective tariff relief in China
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Monetary hawk sounds labour alarm
- Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari warned that tariff whiplash could trigger tech-sector layoffs within months13.
- His comments add pressure on Congress as CHIPS-Act disbursements stall.
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Market barometer turns positive
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Intel’s internal policy reset
- CEO Tan ordered a four-day office week and deep org-chart cuts; up to 20 % of staff face redundancy, part of a $1.5 bn expense target4.
2 Economics, Finance & Business Outlook
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Intel’s outlook shock
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Old silicon, new life
- Clients are stockpiling earlier-generation PC and Xeon parts before potential 85 % Chinese levies, temporarily juicing sales but eroding margin mix5.
- Channel checks show Raptor Lake volumes up double digits week-on-week.
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Sentiment gauges edge higher
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TrendForce on capex freeze
- The research house says Intel will lop 10 % off 2025 capex to $18 bn and shelve M&A while it restructures4.
3 Technology & R&D
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Baidu’s Kunlun P800 cluster
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Intel pivots to home-grown AI stack
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3-D-printed chips?
- Stealth startup Atum Works demoed a wafer-scale “nanoprinter” claiming 90 % cost cuts versus photolithography; early yields remain <20 %10.
- Analysts see potential in niche sensor markets if reliability improves.
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Automotive flash from Longsys
- Shenzhen-based Longsys rolled out in-house UFS and eMMC lines with –40 °C to +105 °C validation, chasing Tier-1 EV customers11.
- Company says “PTM customization” slashes firmware porting time by 30 %.
Footnotes
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https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-considers-exempting-some-goods-us-tariffs-source-says-2025-04-25/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-25/china-weighs-exempting-some-us-goods-from-tariffs-as-costs-rise ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/intel-shares-sag-after-downbeat-forecasts-2025-04-25/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/04/25/news-intel-tightens-belt-amid-conservative-outlook-layoffs-in-q2-lower-2025-capex-no-acquisitions/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/trade-tensions-are-giving-intels-older-chips-second-life-2025-04-25/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-baidu-says-its-kunlun-chip-cluster-can-train-deepseek-like-models-2025-04-25/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/us-stock-futures-slip-investors-assess-trade-developments-earnings-reports-2025-04-24/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/uk-shares-rise-us-china-trade-tensions-show-signs-easing-2025-04-25/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/after-years-failed-ai-deals-intel-plans-homegrown-challenge-nvidia-2025-04-25/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/startup-aims-to-3d-print-chips-and-cut-production-costs-by-90-percent ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202504250319DGAP____UKPR_____UK_Regulatory_2124274-1 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/04/25/news-china-rumored-to-ease-125-tariffs-on-semiconductors-while-storage-chips-likely-off-exemption/ ↩︎ ↩︎
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https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-kashkari-nervous-that-trade-policy-uncertainty-will-lead-layoffs-2025-04-25/ ↩︎
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https://www.ft.com/content/a6ab628b-2218-439a-8ec8-25845cae117a ↩︎