Nvidia, chip stocks jump after Trump says some chipmakers exempt from 100% semiconductor tariff Laura BrattonAugust 8, 2025 at 4:03 AM Chip stocks climbed on Thursday after President Trump said he'll exempt companies from his planned semiconductor tariffs if they have committed to making their chips...
- - Nvidia, chip stocks jump after Trump says some chipmakers exempt from 100% semiconductor tariff
Laura BrattonAugust 8, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Chip stocks climbed on Thursday after President Trump said he'll exempt companies from his planned semiconductor tariffs if they have committed to making their chips in the US.
"We'll be putting a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors," Trump said during a press conference at the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon. "But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge."
"If you've made a commitment to build or if you're in the process of building, as many are, there is no tariff."
Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Leading AI chipmaker Nvidia's (NVDA) stock rose as much as 2.5% Thursday to a fresh intraday high of $183.88 before paring gains, ending the trading session up less than 1%. Shares of rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose nearly 6%, while Micron (MU) stocks rose almost 3%.
Most of the world's advanced chips are produced by leading contract chip manufacturer TSMC (TSM) in Taiwan, but the company has been building out its capacity in Arizona with a $165 billion investment, exempting it from Trump's tariffs. The company's US-listed shares jumped nearly 5% Thursday.
Tech companies have rushed to announce investments in their US manufacturing footprint in the hopes of avoiding Trump's trade war wrath. So far, Nvidia has committed to producing $500 billion of AI infrastructure in the US. Micron made a similar $200 billion commitment. Texas Instruments (TXN) has said it's spending $60 billion to bolster its manufacturing capacity in the US.
Citi analyst Christopher Danely said the exemptions mean the semiconductor tariff will have "minimal impact … as US-based semiconductor companies with in-house fabs have operations in the US and fabless companies can commit to using TSMC, Samsung, GFS which have operations in the US."
"Fabs" refer to factories where chips are produced, and "fabless" companies outsource production of their chips to contract manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung (005930.KS), and GFS (GFS). Companies with in-house fabs include Intel (INTC), Micron, and Texas Instruments. Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, and Qualcomm (QCOM) are fabless.
Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Joseph Moore echoed Danely's sentiment, writing in a note to clients Thursday, "To some degree this outcome would be something of a relief."
"Yes, 100% tariffs are unpalatable but if companies are given time to restore them, the real tax is just the higher cost of building chips in the United States," he wrote. "The biggest fear was that such a tariff would be implemented immediately."
Still, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon noted that there are questions surrounding how the tariffs would be applied, making it hard to determine their impact. He explained that most semiconductors are imported once they're already inside other products, and the US "does not import a ton of raw chips" — $45 billion worth in 2024 — and it's unclear whether duties would just apply to raw semiconductors or also to products containing them.
Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances
The US Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance's request for comment. Further details about the tariffs will be revealed when the agency publishes its findings from an investigation into US semiconductor imports it launched in April under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which empowers the president to restrict imports of products related to national security.
"Trump's public statements often lack detail and nuance, so at this point we do not know exactly how the new rules will be implemented once they go into effect," Rasgon wrote. "We should know more once the actual 232 investigation results are published."
President Donald Trump speaks while making an announcement about Apple with Apple CEO Tim Cook in the Oval Office, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) ()
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at [email protected].
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Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Christopher Danely's name. We regret the error.
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