Major semiconductor companies like UMC are now rushing to shift their production orders away from China in anticipation of further sanctions under the new Trump administration.
China's Semiconductor Industry Expected To Witness "Harsh" Tariffs & Regulations Under The Trump Era
US President-elect Donald Trump plans to take office a few weeks from now on, and it looks like the tech industry and the associated supply chain is expected to witness a "radical shift" in policies, which is why companies have taken drastic measures to counter the upcoming policies. Now, in a report by Taiwan Economic Daily, UMC is said to be taking out semiconductor orders placed in China in an attempt to prevent getting a victim of the expected tariffs to be announced once Trump takes office.
It is said that UMC, along with several IC chip companies, are shifting orders out of China, especially for more mature processes, such as the 28nm. Recently, the Biden administration imposed further sanctions on China's semiconductor industry, which included an investigation into legacy chips utilized in several products, ranging from automotive vehicles to consumer goods. While China is behind in the node superiority race, the nation has a clear edge in producing mature nodes, especially when it comes to high-volume production.
With the Trump administration, it is expected that China will see the imposition of harsh tariffs, which is why IC design companies are now eager to shift their production, and for UMC, they have apparently started 28nm and 22nm chips production orders in Taiwan, taking them away from Chinese semiconductor suppliers. Similarly, mainstream tech companies like AMD and NVIDIA have adopted a similar strategy, rushing their next-gen GPU production to combat the heavy wave of tariffs.
The semiconductor industry will definitely experience supply chain disruption if the upcoming US administration decides to aggressively impose tariffs and restrictions. With the US prioritizing domestic semiconductor production, it will be interesting to see how the global markets evolve in the future.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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