Tuesday, January 28th 2025

Trump Administration Plans to Impose 25-100% Tariffs on Taiwan-Sourced Chips, Including TSMC

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (57 Comments)
The United States, currently led by the Trump administration, could be preparing a surprise package to its close silicon ally—Taiwan. During a House GOP issues conference in Florida, US President Donald Trump announced that he would impose 25% to 100% tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, including the world's leading silicon manufacturer, TSMC. Trump addressed the conference, saying, "In the very near future, we are going to be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States. They left us and went to Taiwan; we want them to come back. We do not want to give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous program that Biden has given everybody billions of dollars. They already have billions of dollars. […] They did not need money. They needed an incentive. And the incentive is going to be they [do not want to] pay a 25%, 50% or even a 100% tax."

The issue for TSMC is its massive reliance on US companies to drive revenue. The majority of its cutting-edge silicon is going to only a handful of companies, including Apple, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Broadcom. With tariffs, the supply chain economics, especially in the world of semiconductors, will break. TSMC's most significant export country is the US, and US companies with trillions of US Dollars of market capitalization rely on Taiwanese silicon. As a result, TSMC will most likely raise its wafer prices, with results trickling down to US companies raising their product prices with additional price hikes. TSMC plans to bring its advanced manufacturing on American soil, but given that these tariffs might break the economic model it currently operates under, it may need to happen sooner. Taiwan-based silicon giant has planned to leave US facilities trailing behind by a generation or two of advanced manufacturing, while domestic facilities produce the newest nodes. If Trump decides to go through tariffs, TSMC could make additional changes to its US-based manufacturing plans.
Sources: C-SPAN, via Tom's Hardware

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57 Comments on Trump Administration Plans to Impose 25-100% Tariffs on Taiwan-Sourced Chips, Including TSMC

#26
Onasi
@Legacy-ZA
…he just announced a massive AI project. In absolutely no world will the US TSMC facilities be enough for that, other industries and consumer demand all in one.
Posted on Reply
#27
Vayra86
friocasaAs automation and AI takes over, many jobs are rendered obsolete, and more workers are available, so it makes sense to stop relying on other countries for manufacturing

On top of that, the US now have some manufacturing facilities for chips, it would have been a harder pill to swallow just a few years ago

And almost all the companies who design the chips are US based, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm

So it makes sense, now I wonder what will happen with Taiwan
Global unemployment I believe is at an all time low and there is excessive demand for IT workforce because everyone needs it, AI driven or not.

So yeah. GL with that outlook. We never get less jobs, we always get more, innovation leads to new work that produces greater value, so the real movement here is that we do more in less time, making jobs more valuable. If you are in a sector that cannot make that move to more valuable jobs (or producing more in X time), you're relegated to the lower class, unless you manage to become a niche by overpricing your personal work because its extra special (e.g. hand woven by edging elves in moonlight level stuff).
Posted on Reply
#28
TheLostSwede
News Editor
csendesmarkObviously Trump just invited TMSC to produce the chips in the USA,
Does not TSMC already building fabs in there?
Yes, but those chips are reportedly already 30% more expensive.
Besides, they are having a hard time finding workers willing to work three shifts in the US, so...
Posted on Reply
#29
usiname
Vayra86Global unemployment I believe is at an all time low and there is excessive demand for IT workforce because everyone needs it, AI driven or not.

So yeah. GL with that outlook. We never get less jobs, we always get more, innovation leads to new work.
Zuckerberg is dismisses all mid developers, juniors are no longer accepted so there won't be any development job in Meta, this will transfer very fast to other corporations, the customer support will be next if it is no dismisses already, the bank workers will be replaced and most of the IT force will not exist in the next 5-10 years. There will be job for them, low paid manual labor or you can enlighten us where are this new jobs that will pop because of the AI?
Posted on Reply
#30
Assimilator
What TSMC should've done instead of building fabs in the US, is build them in Ukraine.
usinameZuckerberg is dismisses all mid developers, juniors are no longer accepted so there won't be any development job in Meta, this will transfer very fast to other corporations, the customer support will be next if it is no dismisses already, the bank workers will be replaced and most of the IT force will not exist in the next 5-10 years. There will be job for them, low paid manual labor or you can enlighten us where are this new jobs that will pop because of the AI?
Not gonna happen. We're in an "AI" bubble right now, it is going to burst within this year or the next, once that happens it will be back to business as usual.
Posted on Reply
#31
Vayra86
usinameZuckerberg is dismisses all mid developers, juniors are no longer accepted so there won't be any development job in Meta, this will transfer very fast to other corporations, the customer support will be next if it is no dismisses already, the bank workers will be replaced and most of the IT force will not exist in the next 5-10 years. There will be job for them, low paid manual labor or you can enlighten us where are this new jobs that will pop because of the AI?
Y'think? I wish Zuckerberg the best of luck as the whole thing will come crashing down very fast. We've seen in the past how the human factor was removed and what it leads to. So far, all tech companies that left an AI to its own devices for any longer than a couple of hours have suffered some brand damage along the way, killing the trust in AI as they go along.

It ain't gonna work well and frankly, it doesn't work well as it is right now. AI is good in specific tasks ONLY if you have controllers knowing what those tasks are, quite precisely. In other words, if you lack the knowledge in-house, you can have brilliant AI, but you have lost control of your company. Nobody wants that except these big tech cowboys with billions to burn and zero care factor.

In any battle of AI vs humans, the humans win. We just fuck the system until we do, while the AI is bound by its ruleset.
Posted on Reply
#33
usiname
Vayra86Y'think? I wish Zuckerberg the best of luck as the whole thing will come crashing down very fast. We've seen in the past how the human factor was removed and what it leads to. So far, all tech companies that left an AI to its own devices for any longer than a couple of hours have suffered some brand damage along the way, killing the trust in AI as they go along.

It ain't gonna work well and frankly, it doesn't work well as it is right now. AI is good in specific tasks ONLY if you have controllers knowing what those tasks are, quite precisely. In other words, if you lack the knowledge in-house, you can have brilliant AI, but you have lost control of your company. Nobody wants that except these big tech cowboys with billions to burn and zero care factor.

In any battle of AI vs humans, the humans win. We just fuck the system until we do, while the AI is bound by its ruleset.
We never had so advanced AI
In many cases it is better because works for free, hundreds or thousand times faster than worker. You just need few experts to monitor what it is doing and navigate it. The AI is improving with incredible speed. The only problem is that it doesn't have full view of the desired result e.g. the site or the app. But this is something that will be improved in the next few years. I am pretty sure that even the current version of ChatGPT, trained with the FAQ of specific site can replace all the existing support, it will be better than 90% of the people, in the 90% of the cases, they do exactly this, copy the FAQ when there is a problem.
QA also can be replaced, if it is not fired already and replaced with... customers testers like in the case with Microsoft, so it can't become worse
Posted on Reply
#34
TumbleGeorge
usinameWe never had so advanced AI
In many cases it is better because works for free
Yes absolutely free :D
Posted on Reply
#35
R0H1T
outlw6669Well, one can only hope that the reduced demand in the US market will improve supply and pricing for the rest of us, who live in the real world.
The US has fueled & championed consumerism in large part because of their low/near-zero tariffs at home! This is a welcome move, IMO, because less consumption isn't a bad thing o_O

The only thing Cheetolini must be made aware of is that with "reduced" profits, the oligarchs probably won't pay a million dollars to his Gala :D
Posted on Reply
#36
Assimilator
usinameIn many cases it is better because works for free
It doesn't, though. Instead of paying for a human being you're paying for compute - which may be cheaper, but definitely is not free. And you're also at the mercy of whoever's providing the AI agents; if they decide to hike prices by 500%, well good luck because you ain't got no other options.
usiname, hundreds or thousand times faster than worker. You just need few experts to monitor what it is doing and navigate it. The AI is improving with incredible speed. The only problem is that it doesn't have full view of the desired result e.g. the site or the app. But this is something that will be improved in the next few years.
LLMs cannot ever be improved to the level of a human because they lack the ability to reason like a human.
usinameI am pretty sure that even the current version of ChatGPT, trained with the FAQ of specific site can replace all the existing support, it will be better than 90% of the people, in the 90% of the cases, they do exactly this, copy the FAQ when there is a problem.
QA also can be replaced, if it is not fired already and replaced with... customers testers like in the case with Microsoft, so it can't become worse
Now this is completely correct, but these jobs - just like any menial labour - were always at most risk of being automated away.
Posted on Reply
#37
Denver
I don't think Trump is so retarded as to kill all the biggest American companies.
Posted on Reply
#38
Assimilator
DenverI don't think Trump is so retarded as to kill all the biggest American companies.
That depends entirely on whether they donate to him or not.
Posted on Reply
#39
LittleBro
AssimilatorLLMs cannot ever be improved to the level of a human because they lack the ability to reason like a human.
Exactly. Without human guidance LLMs are useless and make mistakes quite a lot. Thus, LLMs are leveraging similar tools than AI, while still not being AI. My opinion.
Posted on Reply
#40
dirtyferret
csendesmarkObviously Trump just invited TMSC to produce the chips in the USA,
Does not TSMC already building fabs in there?
TSMC has a fab in Phoenix since 2020, trumps too stupid to even know what a fab is
Posted on Reply
#41
R0H1T
AssimilatorLLMs cannot ever be improved to the level of a human because they lack the ability to reason like a human.
There's also the problem that programming the "bots" to behave a certain way without breaking all sorts of other things is going to be effin hard. Now compare that to a pleb who just has to do better :ohwell:
Posted on Reply
#42
kapone32
Does Trump even understand how tariffs work? Let's make the best chips in the World more expensive for people to buy in America. I guess now Canada will have cheaper prices for PC hardware.
friocasaAs automation and AI takes over, many jobs are rendered obsolete, and more workers are available, so it makes sense to stop relying on other countries for manufacturing

On top of that, the US now have some manufacturing facilities for chips, it would have been a harder pill to swallow just a few years ago

And almost all the companies who design the chips are US based, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm

So it makes sense, now I wonder what will happen with Taiwan
Do you even know how Taiwan became what it is?
Posted on Reply
#43
Hereticbar
Legacy-ZAGood thing there is a TSCM fabrication facility in the U.S now, now isn't it. Say what you want about Trump, he knows what he is doing, short term pains, for long term benefits.
You are giving the guy too much credit. Let's all remind ourselves that this is a stable genius who thinks it is a good idea to nuke a hurricane, that a stealth fighter jets like the F-35 are literally invisible and "coyotes" at the southern border are literally coyotes.

And during COVID-19 muses about drinking bleach/disinfectant and shining a really bright light up the anus to kill the virus. That guy?

I would be really surprised if he didn't think the presidential seal is literally a seal.

Posted on Reply
#44
Onasi
LittleBroExactly. Without human guidance LLMs are useless and make mistakes quite a lot. Thus, LLMs are leveraging similar tools than AI, while still not being AI. My opinion.
It’s not even really an opinion - classic computer science is fairly clear on what a hypothetical AI should be capable of to count as one (learning and reasoning), which LLMs are clearly not. It’s another instance of branding one thing as another, more mass appealing one to drive hype and investment. Business as usual really.
HereticbarI would be really surprised if he didn't think the presidential seal is literally a seal.
Wait… It’s not? B-but… seals! Seals are neat.
Posted on Reply
#45
usiname
AssimilatorIt doesn't, though. Instead of paying for a human being you're paying for compute - which may be cheaper, but definitely is not free. And you're also at the mercy of whoever's providing the AI agents; if they decide to hike prices by 500%, well good luck because you ain't got no other options.


LLMs cannot ever be improved to the level of a human because they lack the ability to reason like a human.


Now this is completely correct, but these jobs - just like any menial labour - were always at most risk of being automated away.
Deepseek is open source and free. And probably we will see more open source AIs in the future. Also as I said, the only problem for the AI at the moment is that it can't see the whole picture, this is something that will be improved in the next few years. For single tasks It is pretty good at the moment, close to or at mid level and this is something that will improve.
10 years ago we wouldn't believe what advanced AI we will have now
Posted on Reply
#46
friocasa
usinameZuckerberg is dismisses all mid developers, juniors are no longer accepted so there won't be any development job in Meta, this will transfer very fast to other corporations, the customer support will be next if it is no dismisses already, the bank workers will be replaced and most of the IT force will not exist in the next 5-10 years. There will be job for them, low paid manual labor or you can enlighten us where are this new jobs that will pop because of the AI?
Yep, some websites are already using AI for chat support/warranty

It makes some mistakes but at the same time it has its advantages, it's better than some people from some 3rd world countries that attend multiple people at the same time, it's available at any time, can speak any language, and it's very fast

Some people have no idea and spend their time arguing, they could use it to inform themselves, but they choose not to
Posted on Reply
#47
Prima.Vera
Good. It's about time United States Americans to pay the same prices for electronics as the rest of the world, which is between 30 to 50% more.
(For example, an MSRP of 1000$ in USA, translates to 1200€ in EU, excluding the taxes.)
Time for USA to feel the pain too.
Posted on Reply
#48
Bwaze
Prima.VeraGood. It's about time United States Americans to pay the same prices for electronics as the rest of the world, which is between 30 to 50% more.
(For example, an MSRP of 1000$ in USA, translates to 1200€ in EU, excluding the taxes.)
Time for USA to feel the pain too.
You do know that both AMD and Nvidia are US companies, and that all AIBs, no matter where their headquarters are, are making cards from US components (no matter where they are actually produced)?

How is that gonna affect US only?
Posted on Reply
#49
Assimilator
OnasiIt’s not even really an opinion - classic computer science is fairly clear on what a hypothetical AI should be capable of to count as one (learning and reasoning), which LLMs are clearly not. It’s another instance of branding one thing as another, more mass appealing one to drive hype and investment. Business as usual really.
Not entirely correct - machine learning, which large language models are a subset of, does fall under the broad umbrella of artificial intelligence in computer science. The problem is that when most laypeople talk about AI, they mean strong AI i.e. that which is capable of human-level reasoning - and LLMs never can and never will be strong AI.
usinameDeepseek is open source and free.
A free product from one of the most oppressive totalitarian regimes known to man, what could possibly be the catch? Good luck asking it about Tiananmen Square!
usinameAnd probably we will see more open source AIs in the future.
Open-source doesn't mean anything for LLMs, which are defined in their quality by the amount of compute they can be afforded to train on.
usinameAlso as I said, the only problem for the AI at the moment is that it can't see the whole picture, this is something that will be improved in the next few years. For single tasks It is pretty good at the moment, close to or at mid level and this is something that will improve.
It won't, without understanding LLMs will always be inherently limited and always liable to hallucinate. This is their fundamental and unsurpassable limitation.
usiname10 years ago we wouldn't believe what advanced AI we will have now
That's been said every time a new AI bubble forms, and every time it has been followed by an AI winter. History teaches.
Posted on Reply
#50
Prima.Vera
BwazeYou do know that both AMD and Nvidia are US companies, and that all AIBs, no matter where their headquarters are, are making cards from US components (no matter where they are actually produced)?

How is that gonna affect US only?
Because, except nGreedia, most of the video card manufacturers are from China or Taiwan.

Best example for the RTX 5090 GPU, being sold by Assus for 400$ more than the FE....
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