US President Trump recently announced a shocking 100% tariffs on imported chips and semiconductors. That’s basically doubling the costs to companies. However, the reality is that not many companies might be affected. According to a post on X by First Squawk, South Korea claims that homegrown brands are not affected. This includes Samsung and SK Hynix, which joins other companies in other parts of the world, like TSMC, which will escape the US tariffs.
Samsung, TSMC escape US tariffs
Wait, so how is this possible? Have these companies somehow managed to curry favor with the Trump administration? In a way, yes. You see, Trump’s tariffs have a loophole of sorts. According to Trump, companies can avoid paying these tariffs if they build in the US. That is simple enough. However, they can also escape these taxes by committing to building in the US.
Samsung recently pledged $45 billion to build more fabrication plants in the US, while TSMC is also expected to invest as much as $300 billion to escape these tariffs. This is similar to Apple’s own strategy, which was a recent additional $100 billion investment. This means that even though might still need to import its semiconductors from outside the US, they can avoid paying it because of its commitment to building more facilities stateside.
SK Hynix has also said it will invest $3.87 billion in West Lafayette, Indiana. This new facility will help with memory packaging for AI products, as well as go towards an advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility.Â
So, who is affected?
Based on Trump’s announcement and the exemptions he is offering, there is a good chance that most, if not all, the major players will be able to escape these tariffs. This means that those affected are probably smaller companies. Companies that do not have the same amount of resources necessary to build up facilities in the states.
Hopefully, what this means is that we won’t see price hikes for our phones, tablets, wearables, or computers anytime soon. However, realistically, that could still happen. While these companies can escape the semiconductor tariffs, there are other tariffs to consider. There are components and raw materials that cannot be obtained or made in the US. But either way, at least the cost of a portion of these components will be maintained.
The post Samsung, TSMC Avoid New US Tariffs With Multi-Billion Dollar US Plans appeared first on Android Headlines.
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