The Trump Administration is studying to implement a new round of tariffs on semiconductors, despite warnings from major tech companies that this move could jeopardize the United States' ambitions to lead in artificial intelligence, according to eight people familiar with the conversations who spoke to "Politico."
The tariff plan being debated in Washington would significantly expand the catalog of taxed technological products, reaching not only chips but also, presumably, numerous devices that incorporate them, such as laptops, video game consoles, or the servers that power data centers, these sources explained.
According to four of the informants, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick favors a scheme that conditions the tariff exemption for foreign companies on their investment in chip manufacturing on U.S. soil, with the aim of strengthening local production.
At the same time, the U.S. Executive is considering introducing the new levies progressively, the sources added, emphasizing that the final design of the plan could still be substantially modified in the coming weeks or months.
The mere possibility of more tariffs on chips worries the country's tech sector, which is already operating with a limited supply of high-end semiconductors in a context of strong demand growth, driven by the expansion of data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence.
Thus, although industry representatives claim not to reject Trump's goal of increasing domestic production of these components, they remind that advanced semiconductor plants require investments of billions of dollars and years of construction. Until that capacity is available, U.S. companies will continue to rely heavily on imported chips from a small group of Asian suppliers, including Malaysia, South Korea, and Taiwan.
"The return of semiconductor manufacturing to the United States is a priority for President Trump, whose policies have already secured hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in this key sector," said White House spokesman Kush Desai to the U.S. media.