New U.S. gov't rule says chipmakers have to make one chip in the US for each chip imported from another country to avoid 100% tariffs — Trump admin allegedly preps new 1:1 chip export rule under new tariff plan

(Image credit: TSMC)

The Trump administration is developing a policy that would require semiconductor companies to match their domestic production with the number of chips their customers import to the U.S. If chipmakers fail to maintain 1:1 ratio over time, they would have to pay a massive import tariff, reports the Wall Street Journal. The plan is intended to boost domestic chip production and could potentially reshape global supply chains, but it introduces logistical and technical challenges that could complicate its implementation.

According to the draft plan cited by the WSJ, chipmakers would need to match every imported chip with one made in the United States. If they fail to do so over time, penalties in the form of import duties — potentially reaching 100% — would be imposed. The approach goes beyond merely encouraging local investment by tying tariff exemptions to measurable production output (e.g., a million units). Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has reportedly presented the proposal to leaders in the semiconductor sector, framing it as a matter of national economic security.

Companies that commit to building new semiconductor production facilities on American soil would receive 'credit' for the promised volume, say, a million of chips, according to the WSJ. This credit system would let them continue importing chips without tariffs during the construction phase. Additional transitional support might be introduced to give companies time to ramp up domestic capacity. Yet again, a million small chips made on a leading-edge node is not equal to a million big chips produced on an older process technology.

Since the Trump administration wants to tariff chipmakers, not producers of actual devices, enforcing this approach could be extremely difficult. Companies like Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung import tons of laptops and smartphones that use components sourced globally. Tracking the origin of every chip across complex supply chains would require significant coordination between OEMs, chipmakers, and the U.S. government. Furthermore, calculating tariffs based on complex international supply chains presents a major compliance hurdle.

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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

3 Comments Comment from the forums

A Stoner

I sure hope the Supreme Court can get in the middle of this and slap down the whole notion of what emergency is and that tariffs are the realm of the congress to pass. This is getting ridiculous. No one can effectively run a business with all this trash!
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Tom791

A Stoner said:
I sure hope the Supreme Court can get in the middle of this and slap down the whole notion of what emergency is and that tariffs are the realm of the congress to pass. This is getting ridiculous. No one can effectively run a business with all this trash!
All countries use tariffs. The US is no different. The purpose of tariffs is to insure that you CAN do business in America not outsource all your jobs to Asia. It is important to have domestic production of certain products.
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A Stoner

Tom791 said:
All countries use tariffs. The US is no different. The purpose of tariffs is to insure that you CAN do business in America not outsource all your jobs to Asia. It is important to have domestic production of certain products.
Yes, they do. Our nation has invested the power to impose tariffs on congress, not the president. Most countries, successful ones anyways, have generally stable tariffs that do not change on the weekly whims of an imbecile with a god complex and based on whether or not the CEO of a company has swallowed appropriately.
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