Global strategy and management consultancy Kearney and SEMI released their collaborative report State of Semiconductors 2025|Braving the Storm: Navigating an Uncertain Future, the partnership’s first study on the unique challenges of semiconductor production and supply management.
Based on a survey of 200+ global supply chain leaders and analysis of 60+ products and 5,000+ components, the comprehensive study shows an uncertain, pressured, and at-risk semiconductor supply chain ecosystem, with surging demand driven by AI applications and mature electronics, automotive and industrial uses, alongside likely supply shortages due to tempered capacity investments, AI’s voracious chip consumption and trade war disruptions.
“The semiconductor industry stands at the center of global technological progress today,” notes Kearney partner, global lead of PERLab and study co-author Bharat Kapoor. “Yet unlike oil, semiconductors are far from being a commodity, as they require meticulous coordination of intricate manufacturing processes, deep R&D investment, and highly skilled labor. This State of Semiconductors report points to deep fragmentation and uncertainty across systems, entities, regulation, and leadership at a moment when AI has gained supremacy in the chip supply chain—and it’s crowding out everyone else.”
The report delves into end-product wafer consumption by node size and industry—including consumer electronics, servers, automotive, industrial, consumer appliances and telecom—and fab capacity by node size and region—including Taiwan, China, Japan, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, Korea and Southeast Asia. It points out how AI distorts traditional chip allocation, and shows industry share.
“Our analysis shows that tariffs have locked in a structural divide between Eastern and Western semiconductor ecosystems. Meanwhile, confidence among semiconductor buyers is impacted—only 65 percent of the leaders we spoke with feel confident about securing supply, a drop of 17 points from last year—and 42 percent expect shortages in advanced nodes. As AI demand accelerates, mature nodes remain critical and geopolitical tensions persist, the most prepared buyers will secure not just chips—but a competitive edge,” added Kushal Fernandes, a partner in Kearney PERLab.