President Trump’s far-reaching and sometimes random import taxes have proven to be a continuing source of frustration for businesses—and it doesn’t look like those headaches are going away anytime soon. The president said Wednesday that he intends to put a 100 percent import tariff on chips and semiconductors.
Like the over-200 percent tariff on goods and materials from China that briefly came and went before being dropped down to the current 30 percent, this would be an essentially insurmountable hurdle for domestic businesses reliant upon chip imports. The vast majority of global semiconductors are made in Taiwan, despite years of investment in new American fabrication plants.
Trump offered an escape hatch for his plans, saying there would be “no charge” for companies “building in the United States.” Apple CEO Tim Cook was in attendance at the Oval Office at the time, presenting a golden plaque to the president as Apple announced a $100 billion investment in American manufacturing.
Since most of the major chip manufacturers are indeed investing in American fabrication—and have been since the Biden administration passed the CHIPS Act in 2022—the actual hit to the largest tech companies might be minimal. That includes Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Samsung, and most crucially Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s most prolific chipmaker. TSMC is currently expanding its Arizona-based production facilities by more than $100 billion.
The biggest hit would go to smaller American corporations that build or sell in the US yet rely on chips made overseas. Companies like Nintendo (small is relative here), which recently raised prices on its original Switch game hardware nearly a decade after launch to deal with rising tariff costs. American PC manufacturer Framework has also had to adjust to unpredictable import taxes as it launches new laptops and desktops.
A timeframe for the new tariffs was not announced, and of course it’s possible that they may not materialize at all or be adjusted nearly immediately. The chaotic nature of Trump’s import taxes and the frequency at which they appear and shift has been another major pain point for domestic businesses.
