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© 2025 RadioNZ 11:45pm U.S. tariffs disrupt the tech industry: 8 vital things you need to know
Look just about anywhere, and you’ll see news of tariffs. A trade war has broken out between the U.S. and select countries—the American government is now imposing taxes on goods arriving from China, select products from Canada, and all steel and aluminum imports.
But while the headlines spout flat numbers like 20 percent on Chinese imports and 25 percent on steel, the tariffs’ effect on tech gear isn’t as clear cut. To understand the whole situation, I spoke with industry insiders. What they said is a sobering warning to consumers: We’re about to get hit hard.
You can read our full rundown on the tech tariffs to understand the deeper details, but if you only have time for the highlights, read on. You’ll get up to speed quicker, so you know how to plan your tech purchases for the coming weeks and beyond.
Spoiler: A bumpy ride is headed our way. Buckle up.
Tariffs keep going up
TSMC
First announced on February 1, the tariff on goods arriving from China began at 10 percent on February 4. Then on February 27, the U.S. government announced a raise to 20 percent, effective March 4th.
Meanwhile on March 12, tariffs of 25 percent started on all steel and aluminum imports. This move increased the tax on aluminum from 10 percent. No exemptions are allowed.
Currently, the U.S. government continues to suggest future tariffs, along with potential increases. For example, in mid-February, President Trump proposed a 25 percent tariff upon semiconductors starting April 2, with the possibility of raising them much higher over time.
These tariffs can stack—for example, any steel and aluminum imports from China would be taxed at a 45 percent rate.
Buy soon to avoid paying higher prices
Companies don’t make a lot of money on tech products. Think 6 to 15 percent—a stark contrast to software, which has profit margins as high as 70 to 80 percent. Because of this reality, businesses that import goods from their factories in China can’t absorb this sudden tax hike. It’s too big.
Retailers also can’t cushion the blow, as evidenced by Best Buy and Target telling shoppers to expect immediate price increases.
For some devices, you can still find them at lower prices—either reflecting “just” the effect of the original 10 percent tariff, or even the pre-tariff cost. Your luck will depend on how much stock was brought over before the March tariffs took effect.
The more popular the product, the more likely a constant stream of units come from China, rather than one big shipment. Its price will go up faster. For items that sell more slowly or have a bigger sitting inventory, the tariffs will have a more delayed impact.
The short version: Currently, the sooner you buy a new device, the cheaper it’ll be.
All tech devices are affected
Matthew Smith / IDG
During the first Trump administration, tariffs were applied selectively. This time, these taxes apply across the board on all imports from China—the primary source for most electronics produced in the world.
So whether a laptop or a cheap printer, if it’s produced in China, it’s subject to this tax. Same goes for even the smallest of accessories, like adapters and cables.
Manufacturers have already begun looking into moving production (or more of their production) to other countries, like Vietnam and India. However, the process is slow. Building up factories capable of complex production demands takes time — months, if not years, depending on the product.
Expect ongoing price chaos
Nobody knows what’s going to happen next—which is why the tariffs keep appearing in the news. And businesses are scrambling to keep up. Your favorite companies can’t give a straight answer on what to expect because they’re still figuring that out for themselves.
Any predictions they made for the year (forecasts) have to now be redone. However, the task is hard to do when the tariffs keep rising and spreading, and more may still come. Companies have to pay upfront for tariffs in order to pass customs. This unexpected cost can’t be deferred; the duties must be paid for the product to enter the U.S.
When I spoke with industry insiders, many said they were still talking with their partners (like distributors and retailers) about what comes next. But even when that gets worked out now, it will likely change as U.S. government policy changes.
Overall, any price shifts will be unpredictable—even on a downward trajectory. Even if tariffs suddenly went away, costs will drift down based on how stable U.S. fiscal policy is, and how much remaining stock was brought into the country during the levies.
People outside the U.S. will feel the hit, too
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Economists view tariffs as problematic—in the country that enacts them, they can slow the economy, hurt local industries, and spike costs for consumers. But a trade war can hurt more than just the country that starts them. Most vendors think globally when setting up their production, and that’s reflected in their logistics.
So for example, when Canadians buying from a store that utilizes a U.S-based fulfillment center, they’ll feel the pinch of the U.S.’ tariffs on Chinese imports, too.
But most tech vendors sell worldwide—so the impact of higher production costs will still ripple outward to buyers across the globe, in a couple of different ways. (Read on.)
MSRPs will be even more meaningless
Manufacturers give list prices so consumers know what to expect at retail. But as vendors absorb more production costs (like scaling up factory output in countries outside of China) and scale back on the amount of product available (because demand drops as prices rise), we may be in for another round of highly inflated street prices.
Multiple industry insiders say they don’t want to be caught with too many parts or products on hand that they can’t sell. Other ancillary costs may go up as well as companies scramble to comply with tariff demands—more hours must be spent on figuring out new logistics, as well as the full letter of the law.
If Nvidia, AMD, or Intel launch a new GPU at $200, but partners’ rising costs limit their ability to shave their margin thinner or even produce as many cards, that means demand may cause street prices to shoot way beyond the expected list price.
Innovation may slow
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Industry insiders have hinted that without a stable economic environment, investment in new products may become more limited. The size of the company and how diverse its product lineup will influence the ability to commit.
On store shelves, that may result in fewer choices for available models, or less push on evolving standard features. Announced specs like Wi-Fi 7 and PCIe 7.0 might become an even further point in the distance.
You should read reviews carefully
As someone who writes reviews, I always want to think people read every word. But realistically, most people don’t—and if you’re looking for high value from your purchases, you could end up disappointed. With prices changing unpredictably, the final opinions in tech reviews may become outdated by the time you read them.
So in this uncertain market, dig into a review’s details. Find out what user experience to expect, the level of performance, and what quirks exist.
Since street prices could end up notably different than the MSRP quoted to the reviewer, you’ll need to decide for yourself if the actual price is worth the experience. For someone else, paying an additional $300 for a niche laptop may be worth it. For you, maybe not.
© 2025 PC World 11:35pm  
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While gamers beg for GPUs, Nvidia is making AI desktops
Far be it from me to tell the most valuable company on the planet what to do. But Nvidia, you do realize that your whole schtick is graphics cards, right? You know, GeForce, those chunky go-fast gadgets you’ve been selling for 25 years or so, to let people play video games? Because based on some recent news, they don’t seem to be the company’s biggest focus.
New Nvidia-designed Arm desktops
After a couple of months of graphics card launches that have been frustrating at best and a complete retail disaster at worst, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took to the stage at the company’s self-branded GPU Technology Conference. Now, to set the proper tone for a bit of admittedly entitled whinging, Nvidia has rebranded the initial portion of this yearly event as an “AI conference,” so it’s hardly surprising that AI computing is the lion’s share of the two-hour keynote talk.
Even so, I can’t help but feel a little miffed that Huang fawned over new Nvidia-branded desktop computers it’ll be selling directly to the AI industry and individuals. The DGX Spark mini-PC and DGX Station desktop are based on the new Grace Blackwell AI-focused GPUs. This sort of setup was previously available only in datacenter hardware. The specs for the larger DGX Station aren’t available yet, but the Blackwell GPU in the smaller Spark (previously revealed as Project DIGITS) will be paired to a custom Arm CPU.
Nvidia
Despite being loaded with up to 128GB of memory and 4TB of storage, this thing isn’t going to make a good fit as a conventional desktop — and at a $3000 pre-order price, it wouldn’t find many buyers anyway. Nvidia is positioning both the DGX Spark and DGX Station as all-in-one solutions for running local AI models, along with a token mention of “researchers, data scientists, robotics developers, and students.” Nvidia will be partnering with Asus, Boxx, Dell, HP, Lambda, and Supermicro to manufacture and sell both desktops “later this year.”
Didn’t Nvidia use to sell graphics cards?
Again, it’s not as if it’s illegal or even distasteful to for Nvidia to branch out into other markets beyond gaming chips for PCs, or even beyond gaming entirely (remember that Nvidia powers the Nintendo Switch with Tegra mobile chips, after abandoning the smartphone market over a decade ago). And Nvidia hardware is in a lot of things you might not expect, including connected cars, medical devices, and other industrial hardware.
But as a PC gamer myself and an advocate for other gamers, I can’t help but feel a little betrayed. While retailers, AIB partners, and scalpers are eating good on the scarcity of new GeForce cards, Nvidia is preparing entirely new product lines for the AI industry. And not just the “big iron” hardware that’s made it an unstoppable juggernaut of tech over the last few years, relatively small, targetted devices for individual users.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Nvidia can make both, of course…but even a big green giant only has so much chip production capacity. I don’t have any empirical evidence to prove it, but I’m not the only one who feels like the woefully inadequate supply of new RTX 50-series graphics cards has something to do with all these new industrial chips and brand new Arm processors being made for customers with even deeper pockets. It doesn’t help that Nvidia has been evasive, if not entirely deceptive, in addressing its supply issues as RTX cards vanish from shelves the second they arrive.
Nvidia jumped from one peak to the next by riding the crypto boom right into the AI boom. And while recent developments have caused it to look more like a bubble, Nvidia stock is still more than double what it was at the beginning of 2024. The cold calculus of profit suggests that the company is far more concerned with AI, for the present if not the future, than it is with PC gaming. As my grandpa used to say, make hay while the sun shines.
Opportunities for AMD and Intel
But that focus can’t help but alienate PC gamers, and it sure doesn’t help that Nvidia seems to be making a lot of money off of that, too. It creates an opportunity for the competition. If AMD can’t make infinite money off the AI industry, it can sure sell some graphics cards, especially to the large chunk of PC gamers who can’t afford four figures for a new GPU. While Nvidia still dominates to the point of monopoly for discrete graphics, recent sales data indicates that AMD is clawing back some market share, especially in markets like Japan and Taiwan. And if AMD is making a play for the mid-range, newcomer Intel is doing the same thing for the budget space with its second generation of Arc cards.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
Nvidia announcing new AI PCs isn’t necessarily at the expense of its ability to deliver gaming GPUs. But it isn’t happening in a vacuum, either…and Nvidia is failing to deliver gaming GPUs. If you’re considering an upgrade or a new purchase, maybe give the competition a try. It’s not as if Nvidia even needs a desktop GPU monopoly anymore.
And if the AI bubble bursts, and the company is no longer flush with cash…a little ego bruising might be good for it when it decides that it wants to sell graphics cards to PC gamers after all.
© 2025 PC World 11:35pm 
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