r/wallstreetbets • u/MikeMikeGaming AI bubble survivor • Jan 28 '25

News Trump To Tariff Chips Made In Taiwan, Targeting TSMC

https://au.pcmag.com/computers-electronics/109466/trump-to-tariff-chips-made-in-taiwan-targeting-tsmc

Why don't we kick Nvidia while it's down am I rite?

14.6k Upvotes

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2.6k

u/TrueNorthCoin Jan 28 '25

Puts on all US markets

899

u/Unfamous_Trader Jan 28 '25

Let’s raise tariffs on all our allies too while we’re at it

227

u/Steve_McGard Jan 28 '25

At this pace you won’t have many allies left, Russia maybe?

45

u/fio247 Jan 28 '25

Close. There is one nation that absolutely will not get tarrifs.

34

u/Inner_University_848 Jan 28 '25

North Korea, my maannnnn

5

u/fio247 Jan 28 '25

Lol

3

u/Inner_University_848 Jan 29 '25

Yea I know you meant Israel but it bored me

2

u/luidoe213 Jan 28 '25

Venezuela

6

u/JonInOsaka Jan 28 '25

By the looks of things, our new friend is China.

6

u/GordoPepe Likes big Butts. Does not Lie. Jan 28 '25

porque no los dos. I'm sure mango still on the hook for the first election to Russia and to China for the second.

2

u/ClydePeternuts Jan 28 '25

That's the goal...

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466

u/the_next_core Jan 28 '25

TSMC could literally care less, it’s the Mag 7 that needs their chips and will be paying this tariff. What a hilarious self sabotage on US markets.

14

u/karnoculars Jan 28 '25

This is like a diabetic tariffing an insulin factory

63

u/black_cadillac92 Jan 28 '25

I thought they built a factory in AZ?

205

u/the_next_core Jan 28 '25

To maintain relations by producing older gen chips here… The truly valuable stuff is not

24

u/black_cadillac92 Jan 28 '25

Okay, thanks for clarifying.

32

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

Old gen chip manufacturing capability is also valuable

39

u/Chtholly_Lee Jan 28 '25

While I don't disagree with your comment, a lot of places can manufacture old gen chips though.

13

u/RedHatWombat Jan 28 '25

Their old gen fabs are the newest one for Intel.

-6

u/mrosen97 Jan 28 '25

Underrated comment

6

u/SuperNinja1169 Jan 28 '25

Wrong. Phase 2 is already under construction and will produce their current and next-gen chips.

13

u/Mortentia Jan 28 '25

Key phrase: “under construction”

2

u/SuperNinja1169 Jan 28 '25

Yes... as in "not in planning phase but actually building". Very key.

3

u/daniel_zan_ryuuga Jan 28 '25

how long when stable mass production start? 3 years or 4?

1

u/Minimum_Accident8168 Jan 28 '25

Is it Intel or TSMC thats building theese current and next-gen chips?

1

u/wily_virus Jan 31 '25

Intel cannot make current gen chips. We'll see if their 18A gamble pays off. That's their last hope to catch up

TSMC Arizona is going to make advanced chips. However the bleeding edge stuff they'll keep in Taiwan, one generation down will be made in AZ. Even older stuff they plan to make in Japan and Europe. One excuse they said for AZ is red tape and paperwork slow down getting things done. Even simple ingredients like sulfuric acid costs 5x as much in USA.

And China poop out generic commodity chips at $1 a pop.

3

u/rocky3rocky Jan 28 '25

2028 Should I just take a coma medication while the U.S. is blocked out from high-end technology?

1

u/commandedbydemons Jan 28 '25

Apples latest chips for the iPhone are also produced in AZ, so this isn’t technically accurate AFAIK

14

u/the__storm Jan 28 '25

TSMC's AZ fab is in early production of the A16 from 2022. Apple's latest chips are made in Taiwan.

6

u/Facebook_Lawyer_Gym Jan 28 '25 edited Feb 14 '25

pen live seed vegetable lip market quaint nine literate squeal

1

u/JC_Vlogs Jan 28 '25

The AZ fab is producing 4nm chips for Apple, so not exactly "older Gen"

9

u/jambrown13977931 Jan 28 '25

Taiwan would instruct TSMC to close the plant if the tariffs go through.

3

u/gentlemanidiot Jan 28 '25

Why would they do that when they can simply raise prices for Americans?

2

u/jambrown13977931 Jan 28 '25

Taiwan doesn’t like other countries messing with TSMC. If they ban the sale of chips to the US, within a month the US would be in economic collapse. It’s much easier to just force his hand and make him give up the tariffs than do along with it.

4

u/KGator96 Jan 28 '25

Taiwan also doesn't like other countries invading it, namely China. And since the US is the only real reason China doesn't do something utterly stupid, it's probably not a good idea to piss off the US while the Orange Man is in charge. He might literally post on twitter, "Hey Pooh Bear, Taiwan's all yours now, we're out. Have fun!"

3

u/jambrown13977931 Jan 28 '25

What value is the TSMC to the US if we’re imposing tariffs on them. The reason Taiwan would respond so drastically is to get the US to reverse course before China has a chance to mobilize against them.

4

u/LensCapPhotographer Jan 28 '25

They stumbled on a bunch of issues which would make it take twice as long to finish that factory

1

u/longiner Jan 28 '25

If those fabs were dependent on CHIPS money, they still need to deliver the fab within the predetermined time to receive the CHIPs subsidies. They don't come without strings.

2

u/BrokenPawmises Jan 29 '25

Weve already seen the new administration wanting to cancel that, as well id expect them trying to claw that back in some way as well with the way theyre currently posturing, so do they even consider CHIPs as a real subsidy at this point?

4

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

They have been struggling to get the production up and running. It is hard to train local laborers and had to basically set up a little Taiwan in the middle of the desert

3

u/lolas_coffee Jan 28 '25

They have. It has a lot of problems, but it will produce a fair amount.

It is scheduled for older stuff, not new. Still a good project. But who tf knows with Trump in charge. He (and his crew) is an idiot.

3

u/messengers1 Jan 28 '25

4nm in mass production and 3nm is coming up and 2nm in 2028(est).

2

u/Reddog115 Jan 28 '25

Yes, coming up on line now.

2

u/11B_Rsnow Jan 28 '25

TSMC has an operating fab in Washington State as well but it makes older stuff.

2

u/dwinps Jan 28 '25

They did and it upsets Trump that Biden actually got a semi factory built in the US while Trump never did.

3

u/DetectiveFit223 Jan 28 '25

This plant couldn't provide the capacity to make enough chips.

1

u/Thesonomakid Jan 28 '25

Drive by the new plant a few times a month. It’s a failure, according to all accounts, due to shitty workers. Being in management, I can’t say they are wrong.

6

u/Preachey Jan 28 '25

> could care less

5

u/koticgood Jan 28 '25

TSMC could literally care less

lol

5

u/dwinps Jan 28 '25

The MAG7 will just move their AI business outside the US, build their big GPU clusters outside the US and avoid paying 50-100% more for their chips.

2

u/im-liken-it Jan 28 '25

When prices go up, people buy less. TSMC will be affected.

1

u/swim_kick Jan 28 '25

> it’s the Mag 7 that needs their chips and will be paying this tariff.

I'm sure they'll just completely eat the cost of the tariff.

-7

u/AphiTrickNet Jan 28 '25

So they’ll invest in production in the US or basically pay a tax. It’s a wealth transfer from private companies to the government LMAO

16

u/WeedstocksAlt Jan 28 '25

It’s the US consumer that will end up paying that tax… not the manufacturers

-10

u/AphiTrickNet Jan 28 '25

What are we paying META? They can’t pass that on to us

7

u/triedpooponlysartred Jan 28 '25

You think the companies who pay to be advertising on Meta don't budget that extra cost into determining prices for consumers?  There is a reason groups like Twitter and Meta are in favor of banning other social media like tiktok and rednote or whatever it was called. Less competition for advertisers to go to means they can charge more for ads on their own platforms.

285

u/98bballstar Jan 28 '25

They are tanking the market so they can buy a bunch back at a discount

119

u/Essence-of-why Jan 28 '25

Elon said that was the plan, did no one listen?

15

u/smexypelican Jan 28 '25

Hey if the economy tanks then eggs will be cheap again!!!

17

u/smallbluetext Jan 28 '25

Not with bird flu and RFK in the same year

5

u/PlanetBAL Jan 28 '25

Not to mention all the migrant workers not showing up to work.

4

u/Dozekar Jan 28 '25

Tesla has basically no legitimate backing to it's valuation and he's up to his balls in debt for even his extremely high net worth.

There's no guarantee he has any money to buy anything if the market crashes. Like all his plans this is poorly thought out, and this time there's no automativestock engineers to save him from his own stupidity.

81

u/annon8595 Jan 28 '25

Elon literally said it yes there will be pain (blood on the streets) when asked about cutting 1/3 of the budget.

Oligarchs know exactly what they're doing.

54

u/GiveMeNews Jan 28 '25

Elon says this shit because he is an idiot and thinks he'll get to target whose blood gets spilt.

1

u/JrrtSybktk Jan 28 '25

When the economy is at its knees all the super rich will have the Power to pay people to do anything. This could be the Start of a cyberpunk adventure with private military branches in corporations. Night City here we Come.

15

u/poingly Jan 28 '25

The problem is, at least if history is any guide, that's also when the guillotines tend to come out.

Note: This is not an incitement of violence. Merely trying to point out that the regarded masses have a breaking point with the rich.

1

u/40StoryMech Jan 28 '25

I think history is discounting the imminent availability of inexpensive sex robots.

5

u/GrownManz Jan 28 '25

So guys with a bunch of female friends will become the new warlords bc everyone else is in their moms basement hiding from the bombs and fucking silicone chatbots? ffs

5

u/stonebraker_ultra Jan 28 '25

Frankly, I'd rather just masturbate than have sex with a robot. Does that make me weird?

4

u/GrownManz Jan 28 '25

I think that’s normal. …For now.

2

u/Dozekar Jan 28 '25

No, and it's why this is stupid idea.

This is basically like a bunch of other mammals standanding around screaming at primates that now that they have hands they're never going to do anything but masterbate. Then they get shocked when the primates use them to throw rocks instead.

0

u/heybobson Jan 28 '25

difference now is that the masses have lots of distractions to keep themselves busy and apathetic.

3

u/Dozekar Jan 28 '25

Mobs are rarely controllable. There's a thing called selection theory in political science that's basically the best accepted model for how politics and the public actually work that gets into this in detail.

The long story short, promising his money to someone else makes them really, REALLY willing to overlook sending him and any other mega rich people to the guillotines.

It's ugly and I hope it never happens in the US, but that tends to be what drives who gets thrown to the masses.

67

u/EaZyMellow Jan 28 '25

Wait- buying the dip was a legitimate idea?

168

u/lolas_coffee Jan 28 '25

They will also crash the dollar.

Countries are really hard to run. Americans put about 1,000 dumbasses in charge and they are literally breaking everything.

Sorry, America! Been nice knowing you.

33

u/richard-b-inya Jan 28 '25

Over 800,000 dumbasses. I was blown away when I ran a search asking how many active politicians in the US. Around 50B a year in salaries. Insanity.

10

u/Lanky-Appointment929 Jan 28 '25

This is exactly what the world (Putin) wants. Get the world off the dollar as quickly as possible

9

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

[deleted]

29

u/TheRC135 Jan 28 '25

I still can't tell if Trump is actively an enemy of America, or just dangerously stupid.

If he is just stupid, he's so stupid that it is indistinguishable from malice.

25

u/cynicaloptimist92 Jan 28 '25

He’s dangerously stupid and obscenely self-interested. No one should give him more credit than that

7

u/triedpooponlysartred Jan 28 '25

Probably both. Dumb for sure- not necessarily a active hater or america, but big ego and selfish and was approached by Russia. 

If he had been purchased by Canada maybe we'd have a functioning country, but most of our geopolitical allies were unaware they were supposed to actively be bribing half of our government in order for them to even pretend to act like decent human beings.

1

u/gizamo REETX Autismo 2080TI Special Jan 28 '25

Some, sure. But, a lot of them are just plain dumb.

6

u/corydoras_supreme Jan 28 '25

If I've learned anything from this sub, tomorrow morning I'll be purchasing calls on Nvidia first thing, then, when there's the slight morning dew of a dead cat, puts.

3

u/lionheart4life Jan 28 '25

When you know when the dip is coming it's even better.

2

u/EaZyMellow Jan 28 '25

They wouldn’t manipulate a market, that’s silly!

10

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25 edited 20d ago

[deleted]

3

u/98bballstar Jan 28 '25

I’m not sure, but I feel like NVIDIA and other tech companies are too big to fail at this point. The billionaires will hold it up. Their valuation is tied to stock currently

3

u/CalypsoWipo Jan 28 '25

This right here. Making the calls cheaper.

2

u/KingBenjaminAZ Jan 28 '25

This 100000000000000000000% ! This was always his and Elonia’s plan.

1

u/Straight_Variation28 Jan 28 '25

Insider trading?

1

u/p0t4t01nmY4nuS Jan 28 '25

I don't mind.

1

u/fullouterjoin Jan 28 '25

I am going to buy Goldman Sachs.

189

u/Daleabbo Jan 28 '25

This is the real US red wall. That market opening is going to be brutal.

What's the bet after his people buy cheap he reverses this.

84

u/Ravilumpkin Jan 28 '25

That's the inside dd. The tariff threat is "the one neat trick they don't want you to know about"

28

u/opteryx5 Jan 28 '25

Wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happened with Colombian coffee and oil. It’ll keep happening until the markets call his bluff.

6

u/Robot_worgon Jan 28 '25

Or some ‘tard shoots him for not making eggs cheap again…

33

u/the_next_core Jan 28 '25

Pretty sure this was the real reason semis crashed yesterday, markets will be fine today

4

u/11B_Rsnow Jan 28 '25

He said this after markets closed

10

u/the_next_core Jan 28 '25

You are so young and naive

1

u/antongiovanni05 Jan 28 '25

Diamonds or bloodbath today

7

u/qazwer001 Jan 28 '25

That makes a ton of sense, I was just complaining in another thread that it didn't make sense the market took so long to react to deepseek, but this being the real reason makes much more sense

4

u/Lanky-Appointment929 Jan 28 '25

Idk if Trump is attempting to bottom out the economy but the actions he’s taking would be exactly what one would do if that were his intention.

The fact that he would be completely incapable of fixing any of the disaster he’s about to cause is hilarious too. He got lucky the first term with a deadlock in congress and Covid preventing his shenanigans. He’s guns blazing and the confidence that he’s above the law.

1

u/fusillade762 Jan 28 '25

Im expecting stop-loss triggers like a muthah fucker by noon...probably have 0 stocks which is fine...fuck it.

-3

u/roychr Jan 28 '25

Its a manufactured depression, last time it happened we had the nazi party in Germany.

15

u/Bruskthetusk Jan 28 '25

Brother are you saying the economic fallout from World War 1 was manufactured?

11

u/That-Job9538 Jan 28 '25

i mean technically, yes. the indemnities, reparations, and land concessions demanded from treaty of versailles destroyed the german economy by design and in part led to the emergence of fascism as a national corporatist alternative to the internationalist capitalism of the allies. this isn't even a hot take, it's pretty standard interpretation of interwar history.

3

u/meatsmoothie82 Jan 28 '25

He’s about to put tariffs on the USA ffs 

2

u/MilkyWayObserver Jan 28 '25

Lmao of all things, this tariff got to make the least sense

Rip to all calls on tech stocks

2

u/GeneralZaroff1 Jan 28 '25

lol just everything. From QQQ to MAGS to VTI holders all the way to pensions.

Just basically everybody who needs chips right now so….. everybody. Fuck, here comes the bear.

2

u/hadinger Jan 28 '25

Except WMT

2

u/Zippier92 Jan 28 '25

Perhaps…

2

u/deep-fucking-legend Jan 28 '25

Everything but INTC! Finally!

1

u/Cleaver2000 Jan 28 '25 edited 5d ago

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1

u/2CommaNoob Jan 28 '25

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water...

1

u/aj10017 Jan 28 '25

I liquidated all my positions a few months ago in anticipation of this. It's going to be a rough ride

1

u/mark1forever Jan 28 '25

tariffs will do more harm than good,all other countries will just do business with eachother maybe even BRICS.

1

u/papstvogel Jan 28 '25

Probably what Trump bought

1

u/DrawohYbstrahs Jan 28 '25

Nah just NVDA lulz