China's Chip Tariff Policy Update Potentially Gives AMD A Big Advantage Over Intel

Some chip companies and their customers ought to be breathing a little easier today, thanks to a Chinese exemption on retaliatory tariffs on China-manufactured chips. The is particularly welcome news for AMD, Qualcomm, Apple, and Nvidia, among others, as these companies have Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (aka TSMC) fab their chips.

The state-backed Chinese Semiconductor Association (CSIA) stated today on WeChat that the official place of origin for a chip is the location where it's fabricated. To wit, "for all integrated circuits, whether packaged or unpackaged, the declared country of origin for import customs purchases is the location of the wafer fabrication plant." This statement effectively marks chips made for AMD et al as "made in Taiwan" instead of "made in USA" for tax purposes.


At the time of this publication, the running bet on Tariff Poker is Beijing hitting on U.S. imports with 125%, as a response to the 145% imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods. The clarification is particularly welcome in these trying times when an electronic device's price can change on a daily basis depending on which nation is raising their bet - or folding. Practical examples include fears of the already-expensive Switch 2's price rising further, or Framework's announcement about pausing stateside sales of their modular laptops.

Reuters also points out that Chinese and Taiwanese chipmakers saw their shares rising after CSIA's clarification, fueled by the prospect of U.S. clients not being forced to re-evaluate their options -- at least for today.