The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering imposing new trade tariffs on semiconductors, Politico reported, citing its sources.
The White House wants to extend the tariffs not only to chips, but also to products made with them, such as laptops, game consoles and servers. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to unnamed officials, has proposed exempting foreign technology companies from tariffs in exchange for “investments in chip manufacturing in the US“. It is noted that a phased introduction of the tariffs is being considered, but this approach could change in the near future. In addition, the size of the tariffs and the countries to which they will apply have not yet been determined.
American technology giants, for their part, believe that this decision will "undermine the hopes of the United States" for dominance in the field of artificial intelligence, as there is already a shortage of semiconductors. The newspaper writes that the economic restrictions will mainly affect Nvidia and Apple. Another source of Politico believes that the creation of an all-American chip manufacturing facility will take at least five years.