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The U.S. Department of Commerce is conducting a national security investigation into the import of semiconductor technology and related downstream products, according to a Federal Register notification placed online Monday.
Official documents requesting public comment on the investigation further confirm that despite his statement on Friday, the chip and electronics supply chain will not be excluded from US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
As part of the investigation, the Ministry of Commerce will investigate whether it is “necessary to protect domestic security” to reduce reliance on imports, and the “feasibility of increasing domestic semiconductor capacity” to reduce reliance on imports.
The study includes a wide range of items, including silicon wafers, chip making equipment, and chip components such as “downstream products including semiconductors.”
Semiconductors play a role in essentially all kinds of modern electronics, and have a major impact on Trump’s global trade war, seeking to boost US manufacturing.
Though exemptions are available for a variety of electronic products, including smartphones, computers and semiconductors, Trump and some officials said the grace will be temporary over the weekend and is part of a plan to apply separate tariffs to the sector.
The semiconductor investigation, first launched by the Secretary of Commerce on April 1, sets the basis for such tariffs to be enforced.
The Commerce Department will first allow public comments on the investigation to be submitted within 21 days from Wednesday.
But on Sunday, Trump reportedly announced new tariff charges for imported semiconductors next week, showing its flexibility to certain businesses.
On the same day, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC News that independent tariffs on semiconductors and electronic products “this week” have been “probably a month or two.”
Trump’s Commerce Department cited the investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This allows the US president to impose tariffs on national security basis.
This justification has been used in similar investigations into drug and drug ingredients, and was disclosed Monday.
The US relies heavily on semiconductor technology imported from markets such as Taiwan, South Korea and the Netherlands.
However, over the years, Washington has implemented policies aimed at overseeing more semiconductor supply chains, including industrial policies such as the $280 billion chips and science law.
nvidiaa chipmaker powered by much of the artificial intelligence boom, announced on Monday it plans to design and build a factory that will fully produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers in the United States for the first time.
last month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturingthe world’s largest chip foundry announced it intends to increase its existing investment in the US advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry by another $100 billion.
