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Tech Legal Outlook 2025 Mid-Year Update

Growth in global tech M&A and investment in 2024 continued into the first quarter of 2025, with AI funding reaching record levels in Q1 2025.  While increased political and macroeconomic uncertainties are disrupting the market, the tech sector continues to show signs of resilience with significant investment in AI, digital infrastructure, and sustainable solutions to AI’s growing energy demands.

Continuing advances in digital technologies and the value organisations are driving from them, are sustaining the momentum for digital change across sectors. Government responses to political and macroeconomic uncertainties in the form of pro-growth policies and de-regulation could drive further innovation and growth, particularly in AI and digital assets.

Yet seismic and unpredictable changes to U.S. trade policy are increasing global tensions and intensifying the tech rivalry between the U.S. and China, bringing increasing barriers to trade and changes to supply chains and investment flows. Continuing market volatility and economic uncertainty is causing some dealmakers to pause, while others seek to take advantage of opportunities or to pivot to other sectors and regions.

To leverage tech opportunities, businesses must navigate a more unpredictable and fragmented political, economic and legal landscape. In this publication we highlight some of key trends in the U.S., Europe and Asia that we believe will shape the legal outlook for the tech sector for the second half of 2025 and beyond.

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Hear from our experts

The outlook for tech investment

Optimism for U.S. tech investment outlook
Elena Rubinov
Head of U.S. Infrastructure and Private Capital M&A, New York

"Investors hold significant dry powder and despite the geopolitical and economic headwinds are optimistic about the tech investment outlook in general and the U.S. in particular.  As investors and corporates adapt to the new realities, we expect valuations to narrow and deal activity to pick up."

 

 
 
Digital infra a hot spot in the tech investment outlook for Asia
"Investment in digital infrastructure in Asia is surging, and sustaining the growth in data centres in the region will require operators to achieve scale, building or procuring data centres with adequate power, access to chips and financing."
Niranjan Arasaratnam
Global Tech Sector Leader, Corporate Partner, Singapore
 
AI boosting the European tech investment outlook
Lisa Chang
UK Co-Head of Technology Sector, Corporate Partner, London
"AI remains the engine of tech investment growth in 2025, as AI advances unlock opportunity across sectors. We anticipate robust investor interest and deal flow particularly in areas such as agentic AI, autonomous systems, dual-use technologies and enabling digital infrastructure." 

The outlook for antitrust

Far-reaching remedies in U.S. antitrust enforcement
John Eichlin
Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, New York
"With continued momentum for robust antitrust enforcement, we expect to see enforcers further test the bounds of traditional antitrust theories and seek novel remedies to rewrite the rules of competition for Big Tech."
 
Heightened antitrust and merger control risk in China
"With a more interventionist approach from the Chinese authorities on antitrust and merger control issues and the use of enhanced regulatory powers, tech companies - especially those with advanced technologies - need to be prepared for both the procedural and substantive aspects of an investigation.” 
Arthur Peng
Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, Beijing (Zhao Sheng Law Firm)
 
Europe’s evolving approach to merger control and antitrust enforcement
William Leslie
Global Tech Sector Leader, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, Brussels
"As digital markets evolve, the EU is adapting its approach to new market realities and thinking about how merger control best promotes competition and innovation in the long-term as well as the short term. This could make global deals more achievable." 
"We’re seeing a shift in merger control policy as the UK prioritises economic growth and seeks to attract investment. The CMA has less appetite to intervene in transactions where there is a limited nexus with the UK and where other regulators are involved."
Verity Egerton-Doyle
UK Co-Head of Technology Sector, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, London

The outlook for AI

U.S. AI opportunities and risks abound
Ieuan Jolly
Partner and Chair: U.S. TMT/IP and Data Solutions, New York
"Agentic AI is set to fuel a market surge from $7.3 billion in 2025 to over $41 billion by 2030. But as regulatory frameworks shift and legal risks evolve, only businesses that combine bold innovation with rigorous risk oversight - and proactive management of compliance and governance - will capture the full economic upside."
 
Asia's strides in AI development and regulation
"As a multinational operating in China, it is possible to use AI products that you’ve developed in-house or procured outside China, within China.” 
Alex Roberts
Head of China TMT, Partner, Shanghai
 
EU supporting safe innovation in AI
Sonia Cissé
TMT Partner, Paris
"In Europe there is now a culture of complex digital regulation that parties are used to navigating, and the new AI legal framework, is considered by many to be helpful in providing rules of the road for innovation”

The outlook for IP

The intersection of AI and IP in the U.S.
Shruti Chopra
IP Counsel, New York
“A growing number of AI licensing deals are enabling organizations to commercialize their content. Licensing structures are becoming more diverse, ranging from blanket licenses and tailored agreements to subscription-based frameworks and revenue-sharing models, reflecting the need for flexibility within the rapidly developing AI sector.”
 
Protecting and commercialising tech assets in Asia
"Commercialising tech assets in Asia requires tailored IP strategies for each market, and an in-depth understanding of both local legal frameworks and business practices."
Sher Hann Chua
IP Counsel (England & Wales), Registered Foreign Lawyer, Hong Kong SAR
 
Europe’s UPC is transforming global patent strategies
Julia Schönbohm
Global Tech Sector Leader, IP Partner, Frankfurt
"In a challenging climate where multinational companies need to make cost savings, we expect more tech companies to reassess their patent strategies and rather than litigating in the U.S., pursue an injunction from Europe’s UPC."

The outlook for crypto and digital assets

A new era for U.S. crypto and digital assets
Joshua Ashley Klayman
U.S. Head of Fintech and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets, New York
"Perhaps for the first time since the industry’s inception, the U.S. is “open for business” for digital assets from a regulatory perspective - a message supported from the highest levels of U.S. government, with a pro-growth stance on tech, AI and crypto."
 
Increasing support for and interest in crypto and digital assets in Asia
"The tech provider that can offer a robust third party solution to the complex custody needs of digital assets has a winning solution."
Evan Lam
Financial Regulation and Structured Finance & Derivatives Partner, Singapore
 
EU/UK: navigating evolving regulation
Richard Hay
UK Head of Fintech, Derivatives and Structured Products Partner, London
"We are seeing a wave of M&A and broader corporate activity in the digital asset space as opportunities for strategic consolidation emerge on a backdrop of increasing regulatory clarity."
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