President Donald Trump has said his administration will impose a 100% tariff on semiconductors coming into the US, but not for firms committed to ‘building in the United States’.

Speaking to a gaggle of reporters at a White House event alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook, Trump said: “We’re going to be putting a very large tariff on chips and semiconductors.

“We’ll be putting a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge.”

“If you have made a commitment to build or are in the process of building, as many are, there is no tariff. If for some reason you say you are building and you don’t build, we go back and add it up, it accumulates, and we will charge you at a later date. You have to pay.”

Trump did not make it immediately clear how this plan will be put into action, with an official announcement containing more details set to come, leaving the tech industry to wonder how much US manufacturing a firm must do to qualify, or whether international chips imported by American rooted companies will face levies.

Notably, the announcement of fresh tech tariffs came at the same time Apple unveiled its new $100 billion (£74.8bn) ‘commitment to America’. 

Speaking alongside President Trump, Tim Cook ran through the hundreds of billions spent by the Californian tech giant across its domestic undertakings, and said that the fresh funds would bring Apple’s total US investment to $600 billion over the next four years.

Alongside that cash, Cook also announced the launch of Apple’s American Manufacturing Program, bringing the construction of essential components, like smartphone glass, rare earth magnets and semiconductors to the States, avoiding Trump’s chip tariffs.

The US’ enthusiasm for tech protectionism under President Trump has already seen semiconductor imports decline 13% year-on-year, falling to a total value of around $23 billion (£17.2bn) in 2024, with the Semiconductor Industry Association touting the growth of the countries semiconductor ecosystem in its 2024 report, thanks largely to the CHIPS and Science Act.

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But with American AI firms looking for bigger and better chips to power their model development, the industry group said that to maintain its leadership position the US needs a ‘robust trade policy’ to complement efforts in building domestic capacity.

In practice, that could mean Trump’s new semiconductor tariffs are flexible by necessity.

Following the President’s announcement, South Korea’s trade minister quickly came out to say that its chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix won’t be subject to the 100% levy, potentially down to investments in US-based plants, with the country expecting favourable rates from the US government.

However, according to US Import Data, South Korea accounted for just 3.6% of total US semiconductor imports last year, coming seventh behind other countries like Japan (4.3%), India (7.2%), Thailand (15.5%), and Vietnam (25.1%), meaning that other deals could be done to ensure the US maintains its supply of silicon.