Trump administration weighs expanding chip tariffs to laptops, consoles, and servers, report claims — January's data center exemptions may be scrapped

The Trump administration is considering expanding recent semiconductor tariffs to cover not just chips, but also laptops, gaming consoles, and data center servers, according to eight unnamed sources familiar with the talks. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick supports a tariff structure that would limit duty-free chip imports based on each company's U.S. production commitments, while Commerce officials have hinted that the January 25% tariff exemptions may not be extended.

The framework is still in discussion and could undergo significant changes in the coming weeks. The potential tariff expansion comes amid China's aggressive semiconductor development, with the country targeting a 30% share in the DRAM memory market by 2030 and constructing its sixth mega-fab. The U.S. action, implemented on January 14, imposed a 25% duty on advanced accelerators like Nvidia's H200 and AMD's MI325X, and instructed Commerce to report on the U.S. semiconductor market for data centers by July 1.

The exemptions in question align with those in the January action and cover U.S. data centers, research and development, startups, repairs, non-data center consumer and industrial applications, and public sector usage.