US tech giants can breathe easy for now: semiconductors are exempt from tariffs.

This U-turn by the Donald Trump administration is unexpected in the context of the confrontation the US is experiencing not only with the country led by Xi Jinping, but also with essentially all the nations with which it trades. However, it makes sense. One of the categories of strategic components currently exempt from these taxes is semiconductors. The business of many American technology companies depends on the integrated circuits they import from Taiwan, China, or South Korea, and tariffs have the potential to jeopardize them.

Tariffs will soon hit imported integrated circuits
Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and many other American companies whose business relies heavily on semiconductors manufactured in Asia have certainly breathed a sigh of relief after learning of the exemption for chips. However, their joy must have been short-lived. Just a few hours ago, President Donald Trump confirmed that during the week just begun, he will announce the tariff rate that will ultimately apply to imported integrated circuits.

He also anticipated that some companies in the semiconductor industry will have some flexibility, although he did not specify which companies they will be or to what extent they will be able to continue importing integrated circuits to avoid tariffs. We will have to wait a little longer for this information. In any case, it is clear that the strategy of the Donald Trump administration is to reorganize the global chip industry so that the US does not need to import any critical integrated circuits, such as those used by its companies to train artificial intelligence (AI) models or develop advanced weapons.

The challenge facing the US administration is that the relocation of a significant portion of the chip production infrastructure and the reorganization of supply chains cannot be accomplished in a short period of time. This is the real reason why the administration has been forced to exempt critical components needed by its companies from tariffs. None of this is a mere speculation. Trump made this very clear a few hours ago.