Strategic Intelligence: Semiconductors Sector Scorecard Q2 2025 Update

The US-China trade war that has been escalating since 2018 has been further compounded by the imposition of volatile tariffs and increased threats of restrictions on semiconductor trade from both sides since April 2025. The Chinese government, along with heavyweights like Huawei, has downplayed the effects of US sanctions. Although China’s self-sufficiency objectives are far from complete, the country hopes to reap the benefits from decades of prioritizing self-reliance and the build-out of a vertically integrated supply chain with minimal dependency on foreign entities.

Through the likes of Alibaba and DeepSeek, China is now competitive with the West in generative artificial intelligence (AI). Tech companies like Huawei and Baidu are also expanding their portfolio in chip design, although manufacturing remains contingent on SMIC’s processing capabilities. SMIC was reported to have made a breakthrough in H1 2025 in manufacturing 5-nanometer (nm) chips, narrowing the competition gap with TSMC, which has mastered 3nm processing.

Scope

• This sector scorecard provides a top-down, comprehensive outlook for the key players in the semiconductors sector over the next two years, based on the key themes set to transform their industry landscape.

Reasons to Buy

• Companies that invest in the right themes become success stories. Those that miss the important themes in their industry end up as failures.
• The analyst's thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition and secure that all-important competitive advantage.
• The analyst has developed a unique thematic methodology for ranking all major companies in all major sectors based on their relative strength in the big themes that are impacting their industries.
• First, we identify the top 10 themes transforming a sector across four categories (tech, macro, industry, and ESG). We also rank themes in order of priority by examining activity levels across 200 million alternative data signals, including patents, jobs, deals, filings, social media, and news.
• Second, we research each theme in detail, examining the value chain, key players, and trends. Additionally, we examine the impact of each theme across the 20 industries we cover. Our 200 million signals help identify the leading adopters of a theme in each sector.
• Finally, using our sector scorecards, we rank the companies most likely to succeed in a sector over the next five years.