The US will impose a 100% tariff on imported chips and semiconductors.
US President Donald Trump announced that the country will impose a 100% tariff on imported chips and semiconductors.
According to Reuters, US President Donald Trump said the US will impose a 100% tariff on semiconductor chips imported from countries that do not manufacture them in the US or plan to manufacture them.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on August 6 (Washington time), President Trump said the new tariffs would apply to "all chips and semiconductors imported into the United States," but would not apply to companies that have committed to manufacturing in the U.S. or are in the process of doing so.
"If for some reason you say you're building but you're not building, then we're going to come back and add it up, the money will accumulate and we'll charge you at some point later, you have to pay, and that's for sure," President Trump added.
These comments were not an official announcement regarding tariffs, and President Trump did not provide any further specifics.
It's unclear how many chips, or from which countries, will be affected by the new tariffs. Taiwanese contract chipmaker TSMC – which manufactures chips for most US companies – has factories in the country, so its major customers like Nvidia are unlikely to face the increased tariff costs.
The AI chip giant has announced plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in US-made chips and electronics over the next four years. A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment on this information.
The U.S. Congress created a $52.7 billion semiconductor research and manufacturing subsidy program in 2022. The Commerce Department under President Joe Biden in 2024 persuaded all five leading semiconductor companies to locate chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. as part of that subsidy program.
The Commerce Department also stated that last year the US produced about 12% of the world's semiconductor chips, down from 40% in 1990.
