Trump's tariffs may be paused, but that won't stop GPUs being overpriced and expensive

Date:
Thu, 10 Apr 2025 11:49:13 +0000

Description:
It's not going to end the issues of inflated GPU prices, but Trump's 90-day pause on tariffs could settle fears of further price hikes for the time being.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Trump has introduced a 90-day pause on tariffs excluding China There is still a 10% base tariff and a 25% tariff on semiconductor goods Nvidia and fellow companies partnered with TSMC are in the clear for now

Nvidia and its fierce rival AMD have had their third-party GPU prices hike to unprecedented levels in recent months, due to a mixture of scalping, high demand with limited availability, and tariffs - however, a new measure may halt GPU inflation from worsening.

As reported by CNBC , Trump has implemented a 90-day pause on tariffs, excluding China. However, a 10% tariff on imports to the US and a 25% tariff on semiconductor goods (which includes our beloved GPUs) are still active -
so were not out of the woods yet.

While it doesn't exactly change much for consumers looking to buy new GPUs, what it does mean is that the new tariffs that could have been imposed on products like GPUs wont have a terrible impact (at least, for the next 90 days).

As previously reported by PCMag , GPUs were fortunately left untouched in terms of additional tariffs: it's something worth noting, as many GPU manufacturers are either headquartered or manufacture in tariffed regions.

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), which is Nvidia's main outsource for manufacturing its GPU chips, was previously warned that it
would pay 100% tax if it didn't move at least part of its manufacturing arm
to the US: TSMC's pledge to do so and the new 90-day pause have put Team
Green and others using the TSMC foundries in the clear for now.

Companies like Razer also paused laptop sales , alongside others like Nintendo, which stopped pre-order plans for the Switch 2 in the US. Now, there's a better chance of sales proceeding as normal - but I must say I
doubt this will happen anytime soon. (Image credit: Shutterstock / Top Vector Studio / klyaksun) This is good news, but it's not going to change anything regarding ridiculous GPU prices

Essentially, the biggest takeaway here is that Nvidia, AMD, and many other companies who rely on the TSMC process have dodged a bullet: what that means for us consumers, is the chances of PC hardware (especially GPUs) pricing suddenly ballooning to even more extreme amounts is less likely with no immediate threat of more tariffs.

However, this doesn't mean new price hikes are impossible - and we've seen this occur recently with AMD's Radeon RX 9070 series partner cards. Long before tariffs were a major talking point, GPUs were already consistently retailing for more than their launch price, likely stemming from high demand and limited availability - caused by a combination of the factors I listed above, and the fresh hunger for hardware for AI enterprises.

PC gamers have already shown that they will buy GPUs regardless of how much they are upcharged: it's evident across multiple online retailers, with GPUs way above their launch price, and they're still sold out.

Most importantly, don't expect any significant shift in a positive direction GPU market's current landscape of inflation - but the 90-day pause will certainly cool tensions, so thats something. You may also like... We now have midrange GPUs launching at almost $1000 - PowerColor takes the Radeon RX
9070 XT to an absurd price point, and it's an ill omen of times to come Nvidia RTX 5060 series shipping leak reveals the same memory bus as last-gen
- but it's not as bad as you may think I've had it with the current GPU
market - and the prices for AMD Radeon partner cards on Best Buy are why



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/trumps-tariffs-may-be-paused-but-that- wont-stop-gpus-being-overpriced-and-expensive


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