The News
The tech industry has been left reeling by US President Trump’s latest slate of tariffs as steeper levies on China, Vietnam, India, and other nations that serve as manufacturing hubs for some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names look set to hit its highly globalized supply chains.
Trump also imposed a 32% tariff on Taiwanese goods with an exemption for semiconductors chips, the country’s main export.
Tech stocks sank on Thursday the day after Trump’s announcement, CNBC reported.
“Online retailers will feel the pain, and so will consumer device brands,” said Ian Bremmer of consulting firm Eurasia Group.
Big Tech was reportedly cautiously optimistic that Trump would use tariffs to push back on foreign regulation, although the EU signaled that it was planning to retaliate against the tariffs in part by cracking down even harder on US tech companies operating in the bloc.
SIGNALS
Apple among ‘biggest casualties’ of Trump tariffs so far
Apple became one of Wall Street’s “biggest casualties” in early trading, losing more than $250 billion in market value after markets opened, the Financial Times noted, likely due to its dependence on China for its product manufacturing. The company had been trying to minimize the impact of tariffs on China — and an onerous business environment there — by moving some of its production to Vietnam and India, but that strategy has backfired. Those nations were slapped with 46% and 26% duties, respectively. Apple in February pledged $500 billion in US investments in a move analysts said could put them in a good position to win a tariff carve-out, but so far the administration has signaled there will be no immediate exceptions.
Data center and AI development could be hampered — but will likely weather the storm
Tariffs will significantly raise the cost of renewable energy — which relies on imports of hardware such as solar panels, wind turbine components, and EV batteries — making it harder for Big Tech companies to meet their data center energy needs cheaply, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell wrote. Still, ever-growing demand for energy means it’s unlikely tariffs will deter investment in AI infrastructure long-term, particularly given the deep pockets of firms pushing for a breakthrough, Bloomberg reported: “The vast majority of projects will proceed regardless of policy changes,” the president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors told the outlet. Another potential obstacle, however, may be the new duties on Taiwan: Home to TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, the duties could hamper tech companies’ imports of chips amid the race to build more powerful AI.
Tech companies offering analytics may see an opportunity
Donald Trump’s trade policies could be a boon for tech companies offering logistics and data analytics services as businesses struggle to navigate the swift-moving effects of tariffs, Wired reported. Supply chain platform Anza Renewables, for example, has seen its subscriber base nearly double since December, its CEO told Semafor March 28. “People want to make sure they have as much data as possible, but also timely data, because the market is dynamic, and in a market with so much risk, people want a team of experts to hold their hand through the process,” he said. Still, even these firms remain wary, Wired noted: “Historically all chaos has been good for Flexport,” the logistics startup’s CEO wrote on X. “This might be too much though.”