Current U.S. President Trump considers tariffs his favorite foreign trade policy tool, and he does not intend to limit himself to last year’s wave of tariffs. Currently, the U.S. government is discussing a new measure to impose tariffs on finished electronic equipment. If implemented, it will have a significant impact on the market.
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as explained technical art Politico was the first website to publish information on the subject, and the bill hints at imposing tariffs even on second-hand electronic equipment. CCIA, which represents the computer and telecommunications industries, said new tariffs on electronic equipment would cost the U.S. economy $90 billion in annual GDP, and that as many as 20% of U.S. data center projects due before 2030 could end up being canceled or severely delayed. Representatives of the association said some projects will be forced to relocate outside the United States.
New import tariffs will increase the price of U.S. consumer electronics and reduce model selection; equipment will be updated less frequently, thereby delaying the launch of new artificial intelligence products in the local market. As it becomes more difficult for the United States to purchase new equipment, progress in the artificial intelligence industry will also slow. Authorities are prepared to provide some relief, but they will mainly affect foreign companies investing in the country, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is building a complex in Arizona to produce and package advanced semiconductor components.
Even without these constraints, the data center sector is facing significant financial pressure from memory chip shortages and rising prices. Nvidia and AMD are likely to be directly hit by the new tariffs because they import most of their AI chips from Taiwan, despite TSMC’s efforts to localize its production to Arizona. Apple may also be affected because the company only assembles a limited number of its products locally in the United States, even taking into account direct pressure from Trump. According to Politico, semiconductor industry representatives have launched a lobbying campaign to provide incentives to eliminate the impact of new tariffs on U.S. data center construction. All domestic companies in the United States will not be able to meet the domestic market demand for semiconductor parts for a long time. Experts say that raising tariffs itself contradicts the U.S. authorities’ desire to promote the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry.
According to Politico, this attempt to lobby industry interests was met with misunderstanding by the nation’s top political leadership. Howard Lutnick, also the Secretary of Commerce, firmly believes that raising tariffs will exactly help localize the production of American parts. He is believed to be prepared to offer some benefits only to chip importers who commit to a proportional increase in local production. Different countries will face new U.S. tariffs in different ways.
Representatives of the CCIA Association believe that by completely exempting data center components from tariffs and reducing tariffs on other silicon products from 25% to 10%, the damage to the AI industry can be minimized. In addition, from a bureaucratic perspective, the declaration process for electronic equipment imported into the United States also needs to be as streamlined as possible to avoid supply disruptions.
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