Swiss tech industry continues to suffer from shrinking demand

And the industry association Swissmem expects the order situation to deteriorate even further. The main reason for this is the US tariffs imposed at the beginning of August.

In the second quarter of 2025, the tech industry suffered from persistently weak global demand. As Swissmem reported on Tuesday, sales shrank by 2.2% and incoming orders by 4.5% between April and June compared to the same period in the previous year.

The volume of orders even fell by 13 percent compared to the first quarter. After Donald Trump's "Liberation Day", a more severe downturn set in. According to the figures, the number of employees in the industry fell by around 3100 to 324,600.

US tariff hammer as the next blow

This means that the Swiss tech industry has already been confronted with falling sales for nine quarters in a row, said Swissmem President Martin Hirzel at a media conference. "And with the US tariff hammer of August 1, our industry had to take another heavy blow."

Swissmem warns that the "horrendous US tariffs" of 39 percent threaten to "massively exacerbate" the existing industrial recession. The association is therefore calling on the Federal Council and parliament to take swift domestic measures - such as cutting red tape - to improve the framework conditions for the export industry and save jobs.