Economic Daily hack Zhong Huiling wrote from Taipei that one unnamed IC design outfit admitted that many customers pulled forward orders in the first half of the year to dodge US tariffs. That left the second half looking anaemic, with little seasonal uplift.

Chinese subsidies for home appliances, mobiles and cars temporarily lifted demand earlier this year, but those benefits are already fading, dragging consumer IC sales back down. Industry insiders said tariff-driven buying sprees in the first half did not translate into strong sell-through later.

Some companies privately conceded that although the third quarter should be the traditional high season, this year’s so-called peak is hardly that. They are simply hoping to match last year’s numbers by grinding away.

Despite the arrival of the peak procurement season in China, Europe and the US, IC design firms say the two usual bursts of demand around China’s October holiday and Double 11 are muted. Executives reckon the second half of the year could even end up weaker than the first.

Consumer IC sales are being battered by tariff uncertainty and dwindling stimulus effects, while capital and enterprise spending is stampeding into AI instead. As one industry source put it, unless a company is tied to AI these days, “it will be difficult for them to achieve explosive growth.”

Senior executives also muttered that the economy runs in cycles, and right now the cycle is all about AI infrastructure and applications rather than consumer silicon.