April 16, 2025

Chipmakers Grapple With $6.3B Tariff Fallout as TSMC Doubles Down on U.S. Expansion

Round-up

  1. Nvidia Takes $5.5B Charge, AMD $800M From New U.S. AI Chip Export Curbs Washington’s updated licensing rules blocked Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 AI chips from China, forcing immediate financial writedowns and sparking a 5% sector-wide stock plunge123.
  2. TSMC Accelerates U.S. Investment Amid Geopolitical Pressures The Taiwanese foundry is expanding its Arizona fab complex with an additional $100B commitment, aiming to diversify supply chains as China exempts TSMC-made chips from retaliatory tariffs45.
  3. JEDEC Releases HBM4 Standard to Feed AI/ML Bandwidth Demands The new HBM4 spec doubles stacked die count to 24 layers and boosts bandwidth to 2.4 TB/s, targeting 2026 deployment for next-gen AI accelerators6.

Other Developments

  • Lam Research donated a $40M advanced etch system to UC Berkeley’s nanofab lab to accelerate 2nm R&D7
  • Cadence acquired Arm’s Artisan foundation IP business to strengthen SoC design capabilities8
  • Huawei unveiled its CloudMatrix 384 AI accelerator using 100% optical interconnects to bypass U.S. export controls9
  • SEMI warned Trump’s proposed tariffs could cost U.S. equipment makers $1B+ annually10

Did You Know? The average AI training cluster now consumes 20-50MW of power – equivalent to a small city9.

In-Depth

Government & Corporate Policy

  • U.S. Restricts AI Chip Exports to China
    • Nvidia disclosed $5.5B in immediate charges from blocked H20 GPU shipments, while AMD faces $800M losses12.
    • New rules require licenses for all AI chips exceeding 70 TFLOPS performance3.
  • TSMC’s $100B U.S. Fab Expansion
    • Phase 2 of Arizona campus will add 50k wpm 2nm capacity by 2027, leveraging CHIPS Act incentives45.
    • China exempted TSMC-made chips from tariffs to maintain access4.
  • Taiwan Simulates U.S. Tariff Impacts
    • Economy Ministry models 10-25% duty scenarios on foundry/logistics costs as Trump investigates imports5.
  • ASML Warns of 2025-26 Uncertainty
    • Lithography leader cites tariff risks and $400M/tool lead times complicating capacity planning11.

Economics & Finance

  • Sector-Wide Stock Selloff
    • Nvidia fell 5.2%, AMD 5.9%, and ASML 7% on tariff news, erasing $300B+ in market cap1311.
  • Record Q1 Equipment Orders
    • SEMI reports $38B in global fab tool bookings, but 15% may face tariff-related cancellations10.
  • AI Chip Gray Market Emerges
    • Brokers are stockpiling H100/H200 GPUs in Mexico/Singapore to bypass U.S.-China trade barriers9.
  • Qualcomm Prepares Earnings Release
    • Will detail impacts of automotive chip slowdown and AI edge processor investments on April 3012.

Technology & R&D

  • HBM4 Standardization Completed
    • JESD270-4 enables 24-Hi stacks, 2.4 TB/s bandwidth, and 12.8 GB/mm² density for AI/ML workloads6.
  • Lam’s Berkeley Etch Donation
    • Kiyo®/Flex® system allows 2nm gate-all-around transistor prototyping with <1nm CD uniformity7.
  • Huawei’s Optical Interconnect Breakthrough
    • CloudMatrix 384 uses 14 co-packaged LPO transceivers per die to eliminate copper bottlenecks9.
  • Cadence-Arm IP Integration
    • Acquisition gives Cadence foundational PDKs for Arm’s Neoverse CSS platforms at 3/2nm nodes8.

  1. https://www.reuters.com/technology/global-chip-stocks-slide-nvidia-warns-big-hit-us-export-curbs-2025-04-16/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-16/amd-sees-800-million-charge-from-us-export-controls-on-ai-chips ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-stock-futures-drop-nvidia-tumbles-new-curbs-chip-exports-china-2025-04-16/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/business/china-taiwan-tariffs-chips.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. https://www.reuters.com/technology/taiwan-simulate-impact-us-tariffs-semiconductor-sector-2025-04-15/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. https://www.businesswire.com/newsroom/industry/technology/semiconductor ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202504160900PR_NEWS_USPRX____NY65819-1 ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202504160915BIZWIRE_USPRX____20250416_BW075935-1 ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. https://semianalysis.com/author/dylanpatel/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  10. https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-tariffs-may-cost-chip-equipment-makers-more-than-1-billion-industry-estimates-2025-04-15/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  11. https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/asml-holds-up-lens-chip-sectors-known-unknowns-2025-04-16/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  12. https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202504160900BIZWIRE_USPRX____20250416_BW495743-1 ↩︎