The US Commerce Department is conducting a national security investigation into the import of semiconductor technology and related downstream products.
The mentioned information is contained in a Federal Register notice put online last Monday, April 14th.
The official document, which calls on the public to comment on the investigation, as noted by the media, is a confirmation that chips and the electronics supply chain will not be excluded from the tariff plans of the President of the United States Donald Trump, despite his statement last week that many of those products were exempt from reciprocal levies.
As part of the probe, the US Commerce Department will investigate the possibility of increasing domestic semiconductors capacity to reduce reliance on imports and whether additional trade measures, including tariffs, are necessary to protect national security.
The investigation covers a wide range of items, including chip components such as silicon wafers, equipment for making microcircuits, and downstream products containing semiconductors.
It is worth noting that semiconductors are critically needed for almost all categories of modern electronics.
Exceptions from reciprocal tariffs have been made on various electronics products, including smartphones, computers, and semiconductors. At the same time, Donald Trump and some officials said that the reprieve is temporary and is part of the application of separate levies to the sector.
Last week, United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, while talking to media representatives, said that separate tariffs on semiconductors and electronic products were coming in probably one or two months.
As we have reported earlier, Nvidia Plans to Manufacture Some AI Chips in US.
