The order follows a nine-month investigation and includes broad exemptions for data centers and consumers
Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed a 25% tariff on certain AI chips, such as the Nvidia H200 AI processor and a similar semiconductor from AMD called the MI325X, under a new national security order released by the White House.
The proclamation follows a nine-month investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and targets a number of high-end semiconductors meeting certain performance benchmarks and devices containing them for import duties. The action is part of a broader effort to create incentives for chipmakers to produce more semiconductors in the US and decrease reliance on chip manufacturers in places like Taiwan.
“The United States currently fully manufactures only approximately 10 percent of the chips it requires, making it heavily reliant on foreign supply chains,” the proclamation said, adding that the reliance was a “significant economic and national security risk”.
The White House said in a fact sheet that the tariffs will be narrowly focused and will not apply to chips and derivative devices imported for US datacenters – a huge consumer of AI chips – startups, non-datacenter consumer applications, non-datacenter civil industrial applications and US public sector applications.
