WASHINGTON — U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick again pressed Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to build chip plants in the United States, in a sign that Washington is stepping up its push for domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
In a Bloomberg TV interview on the 2nd, Lutnick said the Trump administration has repeatedly stated that "if you produce in America, there is no tariff." On chip tariffs, he said companies that are not willing to break ground in the United States "will have to pay a price to gain access to the largest market in the world."
Lutnick said semiconductor production in the United States accounted for about 1% of the global total when the Trump administration took office, and that the share would be lifted to 50% by the end of the term. He said commitments worth $1.2 trillion have already come in, citing $265 billion from TSMC and $250 billion from Micron. Those two companies alone account for more than $500 billion, he said.
When the interviewer said that, from the standpoint of SK or Samsung, the companies had been put on notice, Lutnick agreed that they were on notice. "They need to build here," he said, adding that it was essential for them to build plants in the United States. Lutnick made a similar push on July 9 at a concrete-pouring ceremony for Micron's memory fab in New York, saying he wanted to bring Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to the United States to build plants.
Lutnick's remarks are read as signaling that TSMC and Micron, which are accelerating construction of chip plants in the United States, will receive tariff exemptions commensurate with their investments. By contrast, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which have not announced new chip plant investments since the Trump administration took office, would have to pay tariffs, potentially weakening their price competitiveness in the U.S. market.
Lutnick also signaled that chip tariffs would follow the model applied to pharmaceuticals. Chip tariffs are very simple, he said, adding that the approach has already been a major success with drugs: companies that build production facilities in the United States do not have to pay tariffs during the construction period. The Trump administration is imposing a 100% tariff on patented drugs, and as of July it announced plans to impose tariffs of 100% after two years and 200% after three years on generics. The strategy is to signal a tariff shock in order to attract pharmaceutical plants to the United States.
Earlier, in an interview with CNBC, Lutnick said chip tariffs were under review and would be a "targeted" and "thoughtful" tariff policy. Asked about reports that chip tariffs would be steep and would link tariffs to semiconductor manufacturing investment in the United States, he confirmed that this was "exactly right."
Politico, a U.S. online outlet, earlier reported, citing sources, that the option under review by the U.S. government would sharply expand the range of products subject to chip tariffs, potentially covering not only semiconductors themselves but also finished goods that contain them, such as laptops, game consoles and data center servers. Ideas under discussion also include setting tariff rates and quotas by country and applying country-specific guidelines to major chipmakers, the report said.
