Posted on 04/13/2025 11:28:54 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
The technology sector, or at least a key part of it, breathed easier on Saturday after President Trump said that various industries, including semiconductors, computer hardware, and smartphones, would be exempt from the steep reciprocal tariffs put in place this month.
The reprieve, however, may only be temporary, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick, a key proponent of tariffs to re-spark U.S. manufacturing, provided more insight into technology sector import taxes on Sunday. His message renews uncertainty for major U.S. technology companies, including Apple, Dell, and Nvidia, which depend heavily on overseas production to keep costs low.
After OpenAI's ChatGPT became the fastest app to reach one million users in 2022, big tech poured billions of dollars into training and operating its own large-language AI models, or AI chatbots, and agentic AI programs designed to complement and, in some cases, replace workers.
The research has been widespread, and AI is already making an impact.
AI's rapid adoption has meant a significant refresh cycle across all technology infrastructures.
Central processing units deployed in enterprise and cloud networks, like those run by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, are being replaced by graphic processing units (GPUs) made by Nvidia, better suited to handling the massive compute power necessary for AI development. Similarly, servers and computers are getting upgraded, boosting revenue for players like Dell and Super Micro.
In 2025, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Google parent Alphabet, and Amazon plan to spend about $325 billion on the stuff necessary to run and grow their businesses, much of it on AI.
Those plans, however, could get rethought following tariffs that could increase expenses and slow the economy.
Reports are already circulating that Microsoft is slowing its data center plans. That trend may accelerate if higher prices caused by tariffs weaken the economy, leading to canceled orders.
The situation isn't limited to the impact on these businesses' AI plans, though. Tariffs risk increasing costs on laptops, smartphones, and flat-panel TVs, potentially causing everyday consumers to rethink upgrading existing electronics.
A potential slowing has led to a widespread sell-off in technology stocks. Particularly hard hit have been Nvidia and Apple, which are down 9% and 7%, respectively, this month alone. Overall, Roundhill's Magnificient Seven ETF MAGS is down 18% this year, including a 3.5% tumble this month.
On Saturday, some technology investors' worry was removed when the administration provided guidance that popular electronics, including laptops, computers, semiconductors, TVs, and solar cells, are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs announced on Liberation Day, April 2.
The technology exemption includes imports valued at nearly $390 billion, including over $100 billion from China. An escalating trade war means the current tariffs on China's imports total 145%.
The exemption doesn't include a 20% China tariff announced before April 2. And it may not be long-lasting, given comments made on April 13 by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick said on an ABC News interview that technology tariffs will be considered independently from reciprocal tariffs, and specific "sector" tariffs will soon be placed upon them.
"Sector tariffs will not be part of the negotiations," said Lutnick. "Virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan and they're finished in China. It's important that we reshore them. And so the President is going to come out with his policies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. They're going to be outside the reciprocal tariffs."
Therefore, the sector will be treated similarly to autos, which are subject to a 25% tariff, and pharmaceuticals, which the White House says it will also target separately with tariffs.
Nevertheless, this weekend's mixed messages on technology tariffs are problematic for businesses that rely on policy certainty to make long-range plans.
Excluding these tech products from reciprocal tariffs "took doomsday scenario off the table," according to influential tech analyst Dan Ives on "X." "But still there is mass uncertainty, chaos, and confusion about the next steps."
The pounding of the 10-year Treasury caused a 90-day respite in the highest tariffs, and then yesterday we learned of a huge carve-out for China's highest ticket item, tech devices. And now, 24 hours later and before the markets have reopened, Lutnick undercuts the tech exemption.
There was a great, humorous Jimmy Breslin novel about the New York mobsters entitled, "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight." So long as we having warring advisors like Lutnick, Bessant, Musk, and Hassett, we will have chaos.
Big corporations, the biggest and fastest-growing employers in our economy, will freeze hiring if they have no clarity. And clarity seems farther away now than it was on the morning of April 2.
The churn stops after all the deals have been made. No one likes uncertainty, so everybody ought to hurry up and make deals. Trump is in control and I’m fine with that.
Apple is in control whether they move manufacturing to India or not.
Apple would be better off moving more from China to Vietnam.
“”Virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan and they’re finished in China.....”
What, exactly, is this finishing?
Building circuit boards?
Well there goes the market and bonds back down into the bottom of the toilet on Monday.
They need certainly to function. This idiot, Lutnick pulled the rug out before they even got a chance to become meaningful.
Why didn’t 47 say that these exception were temporary to begin with? Everyone was cheering, now we could be headed to recession territory simply because the clown show can’t get its messaging straight.
The churn stops after all the deals have been made. No one likes uncertainty,
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Unnecessary churn is no one’s friend, and only makes the whole thing look like a clown show. 47 should have said they were temporary in the 1st place.
Apple would be better off moving more from China to Vietnam.
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Not something done in a day, but in years.
You're kidding, right?
There are posters that believe Apple can move manufacturing in months.
There’s about a $900 billion/year problem. Companies are going to have to make major adjustments.
The motor vehicle industry should be made internationally cash flow balanced.
The US must have the ability to make aluminum alloys for warplanes.
The US must have the ability to make steel for motor vehicles.
Other products might be allowed to use lower cost imported steel, with tariff credits after some of the products are exported.
We want our manufacturers to have low-cost raw materials. Raw materials are mainly those sold by weight.
The same export tariff credit will apply to industrial components of say LCD screens for Apple iPhones that may put together in CA and then sent overseas.
The US must have the ability to make drugs to keep its citizens alive and off the disability rolls.
Solar cells are going to be essential as oil in the coming years. They need to be made in the USA.
Semiconductors are an essential technology. We should be making what we use.
If food is good enough for the Trump dinner table, it’s good enough for any dinner table.
No foreigner wants to pay a 10% base tariff, therefore tariff-free barter should be allowed.
The clarity is completely there, Miami Rebel.
Build in America, and there are no problems.
“There are posters that believe Apple can move manufacturing in months.”
The Soviets moved their industrial base in a matter of months in 1941.
“production of the famous T-34 tank was moved 2,000 km from Kharkov to the Stalin-Ural railcar factory at Niznhy Tagil, Sverdlovsk, under the leadership of its designer, Alexander Morizov. This involved moving 30,000 workers and dependents, and 10,000 machine tools. They were all boxed up and moved east.”
“Workers re-assembling a steel works at Chelyabinsk were given just 75 days to restart production. This involved laying railway tracks, re-assembling 18 machine shops and connecting compressed air supplies. Starting with frozen ground, working round the clock, and living in tents, the workers achieved the task in 56 days.”
“Chelyabinsk became home to the world’s largest tank factory.”
“In addition to the removal and re-assembly of the factories, the Soviets also built 3,500 factories from scratch from 1942 to 1946, which equates to 750 a year.”
https://www.left-horizons.com/2021/10/08/eighty-years-ago-evacuation-of-soviet-war-factories/
Walmart knows how to build a store fast. They can tell their suppliers who does it.
Well, so Apple can get ‘er done, correct?
“What, exactly, is this finishing?”
In my youth it was connecting wires to a chip, connecting the wires to pins and sticking everything into a molded black plastic package.
Nowadays, pins are rarely used, just pads for surface mounting on circuit boards.
“ger ‘er done”
or pay roughly $30 in tariffs per cellphone.
There is some point in noting that stable, reliable and certainty got us $37 Trillion in debt, so there is no reason to seek more of it.
Normalcy and smooth operation is Swamp talk. Upheaval is the focus of Swamp draining.
“According to unofficial information, TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona is manufacturing at least three processor models: the A16 Bionic system-on-chip used in Apple’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus; the main processor of Apple’s S9 system-in-package for smartwatches, which has two 64-bit cores and a quad-core neural engine; and an AMD Ryzen 9000-series CPU. These chips are produced on TSMC’s 4nm-class—N4 and N4P—process technologies.”
You can’t have gains without pain. Bringing manufacturing back to USA will not be painless. But it must be done for future viability of USA. Manufacturing provides middle class jobs. Middleclass has been gutted by globalist elites to increase profits.
Why manufacturing is important? Because it is the largest wealth creator in any country. China went from a poor country 50 years ago to largest economy (based on PPI) in the world with focus on manufacturing. USA economy is majority retail. How does retail create wealth? Well, it does create a small amont with efficient retailing. Nut the elephant in the room is manufacturing to create wealth.
Apple can build in vietnam, then they can build here.
[Certain dollar amounts on apparel, electronic and stuff typically sold below any possible US production amount
should be tariff exempt, not never the whole item regardless of cost. We don’t need to be importing $1,000 cellphones that
could be made in the USA for far less.]
[My suggestion below]
The Secretary of Commerce may by regulation provide tariff exemptions up to the following amounts:
1. $100 on a laptop or personal computer
2. $60 on a smartphone
3. 10 cents per square inch of LCD screen
4. $45 per hard disk drive
5. $1 per first GB of solid-state memory and 20 cents for each additional GB
6. $5 on a shirt, blouse or dress
7. $4 on a pair of pants or skirt
8. $1 on an undergarment
9. $10 on a suit
10. 10 cents per inch of sewing, up to $2 on shoes and any other worn garment including dolls clothing
11. such amounts on kitchen appliances that do not exceed
80% of values of competitively priced basic models as of June 1, 2023
12. such amounts on hand tools, powered and unpowered, that do not exceed
80% of values of competitively priced basic models as of June 1, 2023.
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