The US has imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports of certain advanced semiconductors, a key step in an agreement blessed by US President Donald Trump allowing Nvidia Corp to ship Taiwan-made H200 artificial intelligence (AI) processors to China.
Under an order Trump signed on Wednesday, the US government would collect the duty on the chips as they are shipped to the US before final shipment to Chinese customers and other foreign markets.
Nvidia relies on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to produce the chips it designs, including the H200 that was cleared for sale to China by Trump last month.
Photo: AFP
“It’s not the highest level, but it’s a very good level, and China wants them, and other people want them, and we’re going to be making 25 percent of the sale of those chips, basically,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday at a signing ceremony.
The US president is holding off for now on applying tariffs to a broader swath of foreign-made chips, following an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act that found they harm US national security.
Instead, Trump directed US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to “pursue negotiation of agreements” on imports and to report back in 90 days, according to the proclamation he signed.
Trump might announce new tariffs and an accompanying offset program to incentivize domestic manufacturing “in the near future,” a White House fact sheet said.
The 25 percent tariff applies to “a very narrow category of semiconductors that are an important element of my administration’s AI and technology policies,” the proclamation said.
That includes the H200 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s MI325X, according to the fact sheet.
There is an exception for those chips that are imported to support the build-out of the US technology supply chain, it said.
Trump signed the measure a day after the US Bureau of Industry and Security eased its criteria for securing licenses to export H200 chips to China.
That surcharge is a condition Trump required in exchange for allowing Nvidia to sell in China. The US must still take additional actions before Nvidia can send the chips to China, including the approval of export licenses by the bureau. That process can take weeks or months and it is unclear when it would conclude.
Taiwanese products have generally faced a 20 percent tariff upon entering the US, although semiconductors have been spared as US Department of Commerce officials conduct a national security investigation into whether new levies should be applied across the chip sector. Trump has yet to follow on imposing tariffs, as negotiations with Taiwan and major technology companies continue.
Top Taiwanese officials on Wednesday traveled to Washington for talks on finalizing a deal to lower its overall tariff rate to 15 percent and expand TSMC production facilities in the US, people familiar with the matter said.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS