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After imposing reciprocal tariffs on global trade, U.S. President Donald Trump has recently expressed plans to implement sweeping tariffs on semiconductor products. According to Reuters, if these semiconductor tariffs are enacted, they are expected to severely impact U.S. semiconductor equipment manufacturers, with total losses potentially exceeding USD 1 billion.
The report highlights that, citing sources, if the tariffs move forward, the three major U.S. semiconductor equipment makers—Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA—could each face annual losses of up to USD 350 million. Smaller companies such as Onto Innovation are also projected to lose tens of millions of dollars, as the report notes.
Tariff on Chip Gear Might Challenge Chip Giants
As highlighted by BITS & CHIPS, while many semiconductor products escaped the 20% EU tariff announced by President Trump last week, chipmaking equipment was not exempt—potentially driving up costs for semiconductor giants expanding in the U.S.
The report points out that chipmakers like Intel and TSMC could face 20% higher costs for ASML equipment if they plan to deploy it in U.S. fabs.
China Steps Up Efforts in Chip Equipment Development
On the other hand, Reuters notes that chip equipment makers have already lost billions in revenue after former U.S. President Joe Biden imposed a series of export controls aimed at restricting shipments of advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools to Chinese entities. However, the report points out that these U.S. restrictions have accelerated China’s push to develop its domestic chip equipment industry.
Notably, Chinese firm SiCarrier has demonstrated several key wafer fabrication tools, according to its official WeChat account. As highlighted by Bloomberg and the South China Morning Post, the Huawei-linked company may enable domestic 5nm chip production using its self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) technology.
In addition, Bloomberg notes that other Chinese equipment makers, such as Naura and Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment, are also developing etching systems to support multiple patterning for 7nm and more advanced nodes, as EUV remains out of reach.
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(Photo credit: Applied Materials)
