| | | TSMC, Samsung Stocks Gain. Why Trump’s Chips Tariff Isn’t as Scary as It Seems.
By Adam Clark
Aug 07, 2025, 9:02 am EDT
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing stock was gaining alongside Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix
on Thursday. The chip companies’ investments in the U.S. likely mean they will avoid a hefty tariff on imported semiconductors.
American depositary receipts of Taiwan Semiconductor, or TSMC, were up 5.1% in premarket trading. Taiwan’s National Development Council Minister Liu Chin-ching said Thursday that TSMC is exempted from the chip tariff announced by President Donald Trump the previous day.
Trump on Wednesday said he would impose roughly 100% tariffs on all chips coming into the U.S., but exempt technology companies that have promised to manufacture domestically. TSMC receiving an exemption would make sense, as it has pledged a total of $165 billion in U.S. investment, including building three new chip plants.
It remains to be seen if the White House might seek even more concessions from TSMC. Trump said in a television interview this week that the company was spending $300 billion, although it is unclear how he came to that figure.
TSMC faces difficult questions about how much of its manufacturing it will base outside its home country. Taiwanese lawmakers recently passed a law to ensure TSMC’s latest manufacturing technology remains in Taiwan and its facilities overseas are at least one generation behind, according to local media.
TSMC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early on Thursday.
South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix also gained in local trading. The country’s trade envoy Yeo Han-koo said the two companies would not be subject to the 100% chip tariff, citing the terms of its trade deal with the U.S., local Korean media reported Thursday.
Samsung and SK Hynix didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Samsung has invested billions in Texas chip manufacturing and Apple said Wednesday that processors from the Korean company’s U.S. sites would be used in its products. SK Hynix last year said it would invest around $3.87 billion in Indiana to build an advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for artificial-intelligence products.
European chip stocks such as Infineon and STMicroelectronics recovered from early losses after European Union officials said Thursday that Washington had made a commitment that any tariff on EU semiconductor exports would be capped at 15%.
In contrast, stocks of Japanese chip companies Tokyo Electron, Renesas Electronics and Kioxia Holdings fell in local trading.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com |
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