Over the last decade, the price of laptops, gaming hardware, and smartphones has only grown, but things might get exceptionally worse soon.
Throughout Donald Trump's presidential campaign, he proposed placing tariffs as high as up to 60% for goods from China, and up to 20% for everything else coming into the United States. He said this back in September, but he recently provided an update on these proposed tariffs.
Trump gave a speech on Monday during the House GOP Issues Conference where he said "In the very near future, we're going to be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States of America." In particular, Trump mentions Taiwan, and cites that it holds 98% of the chip business, stating "We want them to come back."
In short, our wallets could be in huge trouble very soon.
How much damage could Trump's tariffs actually do?
When Trump initially proposed these tariffs last year, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) filed a report documenting predictions for how drastically these tariffs could hike prices if they go through.
The report suggests that laptops and tablets could get 46% more expensive and video game consoles might rise by 40%. Smartphones would be the least impacted, marked up by just 26%, but it's still a drastic increase (via TechCrunch).
Senior Director of the CTA, Brian Comiskey, claimed at CES 2025 that spending for “tablets and laptops could decline as much as 68%, gaming consoles as much as 58%, and smartphones up to 37%.”
These claims get a lot scarier when you apply them to the things we actually use. AMD outsources its chip manufacturing to TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. AMD chips power the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but the Nintendo Switch 2 is rumored to use an Nvidia chip. Unfortunately, Nvidia's chips are also manufactured by TSMC. In other words, all of these are imported from Taiwan.
If the 40% price increase on game consoles is true, it would mean the Xbox Series X and PS5's launch prices of $500 could be as high as $700 for the coming generation. Rumors for the Nintendo Switch 2 suggest it could be anywhere from $400 to $450, but the proposed tariffs could bring that up to anywhere from $560 to $630.
Even when we move to laptops, and focus on something like Apple products, the majority of Apple Silicon is outsourced to manufacturers like TSMC. However, towards the end of last year, Apple began making some chips in America as reported by independent journalist Tim Culpan, still produced by TSMC. The branch is called TSMC Arizona, and while it's reportedly starting small, it's a start.
On the other hand, Intel manufactures at several different locations, with production facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Ireland, and Israel. It also has assembly and test sites in China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
On Intel's website, the company claims "approximately half of our workforce handles production," and in 2011, it claimed that "roughly three-fourths of the company's microprocessor manufacturing is done here in America." 2011 was a long time ago, so it's hard to say if that's accurate in 2025, but that's the latest statement Intel has made on how much is produced in America.
There's one more major chip maker we haven't covered: Qualcomm. A brief look at the company's website reveals that it will similarly suffer at the hands of these tariffs, where it's stated, "The majority of our manufacturing and test suppliers are located in the Asia-Pacific region."
In short, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm are potentially facing trouble. Intel and Apple may be more prepared for this impending storm, but both could still be greatly impacted by these tariffs. Apple has only just begun producing in America and still has a majority of its manufacturing done elsewhere. Meanwhile, we have no clear picture of how much of Intel's manufacturing is presently done within the United States.
We have no information on exactly when these tariffs will become a reality. However, it could happen within weeks as Trump can, in most cases, impose tariffs without congressional approval according to the National Law Review.
Considering these companies are the ones manufacturing the chips that power your laptops, smartphones, and gaming consoles, our wallets could be in huge trouble in the near future.
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