The Bank of England has cut the interest rate for the fifth time in a year to 4% but warned that climbing food prices will cause inflation to jump higher in 2025.
In a tight decision that saw members of the rate-setting committee vote twice to break a deadlock, the Bank cut the rate to the lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years. Households on a variable mortgage of about £140,000 will save about £30 a month.
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, said: “We’ve cut interest rates today, but it was a finely balanced decision. Interest rates are still on a downward path, but any future cuts will need to be made gradually and carefully.”
Money latest: What interest rate cut means for savers and borrowers
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the nine-member panel that sets the base interest rate, voted in favour of lowering borrowing costs by 0.25 percentage points.
However, rate-setters failed to reach a unanimous decision, with four members of the committee voting to keep it on hold and another four voting for a 0.25 percentage point cut.
Alan Taylor, an external member of the committee, initially called for a larger 0.5 percentage point cut but after a second vote reduced that to 0.25% to break the deadlock. Had they failed to reach a decision, Mr Bailey, the governor, would have had the decisive vote.
It is the first time the committee has gone to a second vote and highlights the difficulty policymakers face in navigating the current economic climate, in which economic growth is stagnating, with at least one rate-setter fearing a recession, but inflation remains persistent.
Although the central bank voted to cut borrowing costs, it also raised its inflation forecasts on the back of higher food prices.
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‘We’ve got to get the balance right on tax’
The bank predicted that the headline rate of inflation would hit 4% in September, up from a previous estimate of 3.75%.
The September inflation rate is used to uprate a range of benefits, including pensions.
The increase was driven by food, where the inflation rate could hit 5.5% this year. About a tenth of household spending is devoted to food shopping, which means it can have an outsized impact on inflation.
The Bank said this risked creating “second round effects”, whereby a sense of higher inflation forces people to push for pay rises, which could push inflation even higher.
Economists at the Bank blamed poor harvests, weather conditions, and changes to packaging regulations but also, in a blow to the chancellor, higher labour costs.
It pointed out that a higher proportion of workers in the food retail sector are paid the national living wage, which Rachel Reeves increased by 6.7% in April.
Economists at the Bank also blamed higher employment taxes announced in the autumn budget. “Furthermore, overall labour costs of supermarkets are likely to have been disproportionately affected by the lower threshold at which employers start paying NICs… these material increases in labour costs are likely to have pushed up food prices.”
There is also evidence that employers’ national insurance increases are causing businesses to curtail hiring, the Bank said. It comes as unemployment in the UK rose unexpectedly to a fresh four-year high of 4.7% in May. Separate data shows the number of employees on payroll has contracted for the fifth month in a row,
The Bank said the unemployment rate could hit 5% next year and warned of “subdued” economic growth, with one member – Alan Taylor – warning of an “increased risk of recession” in the coming years.
Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan speaks at the company’s Annual Manufacturing Technology Conference in San Jose, California, U.S. April 29, 2025.
Laure Andrillon | Reuters
Intel shares were under pressure Thursday after President Donald Trump called for the chipmaker’s CEO to resign immediately.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan “is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem.” Intel dropped in the premarket on the back of that post, last trading 5% lower.
INTC drops
Tan was named as Intel CEO in March. This week, U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton questioned his ties to Chinese companies and referenced a past criminal case involving Cadence Design, where Tan was CEO until 2021, Reuters reported.
Cotton wrote to Intel’s chair to “express concern about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations and its potential impact on U.S. national security,” Reuters said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event with Apple CEO Tim Cook in the Oval Office of the White House on August 6, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariffs on the import of semiconductors has brought major chip names into the spotlight.
Questions linger about how these duties will be implemented: will they apply to the raw chip itself that is imported, or the end product, like a smartphone or laptop? And how much manufacturing needs to actually be done in the U.S.?
Trump said that, if companies are “building in the United States or have committed to build, without question,” then “there will be no charge.”
A number of chip stocks moved higher on Thursday on investor hopes that pledges of U.S. investment and current footprint Stateside may help them avoid the worst of the semiconductor tariffs.
Based on Trump’s comments, here’s a breakdown of the major chip companies in the world and what their operations and investment commitments to the U.S.
TSMC
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s biggest chipmaker, has pledged a total of $165 billion in investments to the U.S.
This includes an ongoing $65 billion investment in advanced chip making operations in Phoenix, Arizona and a fresh $100 billion announced in March.
TSMC shares rose nearly 5% in Taiwan on Thursday, as investors bet the company will ride out the semiconductor tariffs.
Samsung
Samsung operates chipmaking facilities in Texas and has also committed billions of dollars in investment to the U.S.
Apple on Wednesday said that Samsung would produce image sensors of the iPhone maker out of the Korean tech giant’s facility in Austin, Texas.
Samsung shares also ended the day higher in South Korean trading.
GlobalFoundries
U.S.-headquartered chipmaker GlobalFoundries saw shares surge nearly 10% in premarket trade on Thursday.
The company has a manufacturing footprint in the U.S., but it does not make cutting-edge chips like TSMC. Instead, it makes less advanced products that are widely used across various industries.
On Wednesday, GlobalFoundries announced an agreement with Apple for a “deeper collaboration that will advance semiconductor technologies and strengthen U.S. manufacturing.”
The company said it will “accelerate” investments at its factory in Malta, New York.
Given its U.S. base, investors see GlobalFoundries as a winner of Trump’s semiconductor tariffs.
SK Hynix
SK Hynix produces the high-bandwidth memory chips that Nvidia uses in its products. Last year, the South Korean company announced a nearly $4 billion chip packaging facility in the U.S.
Shares of SK Hynix closed more than 1% higher on Thursday.
Nvidia
In April, Nvidia said it plans to produce up to $500 billion of AI infrastructure in the U.S. via its manufacturing partnerships over the next four years.
Its Blackwell AI chips have started production at TSMC’s Phoenix facility.
Nvidia shares were 1% higher in premarket trade.
Apple
While not strictly a semiconductor company, Apple does design its own chips. Trump on Wednesday announced that Apple will spend an additional $100 billion on U.S. companies and suppliers over the next four years.
Apple said that its U.S.-based supply chain would produce more than 19 billion chips for its products this year, which includes manufacturing from TSMC in Arizona.
Apple shares rose more than 3% in premarket trade on Thursday, following a 5% jump on Wednesday.
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