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US Bitcoin miners face 21% rig cost surge after Trump’s tariff goes live
The post US Bitcoin miners face 21% rig cost surge after Trump’s tariff goes live appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. A 100% tariff on imported semiconductors, formally enacted by the Trump administration on August 7, is reshaping the economics of crypto mining in the United States. The tariff, which targets chips made outside the U.S., threatens to increase the cost basis for miners already facing pressure from the April halving and ongoing network difficulty spikes. While the policy allows exemptions for companies that commit to domestic manufacturing, nearly all advanced application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) used in Bitcoin mining are still sourced from Asia, leaving miners with few immediate alternatives. The tariff first surfaced in January during a House GOP retreat, where Trump announced plans for a broad duty of up to 100% on imported computer chips. As Reuters reported, the policy was framed as a measure to boost domestic chip production and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers. By April, an executive order expanded the plan to cover 57 countries, including key Southeast Asian ASIC production hubs such as Malaysia and Thailand. That change triggered a scramble among mining equipment distributors and operators who rushed to move inventory before the new rates took effect. According to WIRED, companies like Luxor and AsicXchange paid up to 10 times the usual airfreight rate to charter flights from Singapore and beat customs deadlines. Following backlash from industry groups and supply chain stakeholders, the White House issued a 90-day pause in April, temporarily delaying enforcement. A revised tariff schedule published in late July lowered the rate on Southeast Asian imports to 19% but reaffirmed the top-line 100 percent rate for other chip categories that fail to meet domestic content thresholds. Trump reaffirmed the policy publicly on August 6, stating in off-camera remarks captured by Reuters that the administration would “be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, 25, 50, or even 100 percent.” The…
The post US Bitcoin miners face 21% rig cost surge after Trump’s tariff goes live appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
A 100% tariff on imported semiconductors, formally enacted by the Trump administration on August 7, is reshaping the economics of crypto mining in the United States. The tariff, which targets chips made outside the U.S., threatens to increase the cost basis for miners already facing pressure from the April halving and ongoing network difficulty spikes. While the policy allows exemptions for companies that commit to domestic manufacturing, nearly all advanced application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) used in Bitcoin mining are still sourced from Asia, leaving miners with few immediate alternatives. The tariff first surfaced in January during a House GOP retreat, where Trump announced plans for a broad duty of up to 100% on imported computer chips. As Reuters reported, the policy was framed as a measure to boost domestic chip production and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers. By April, an executive order expanded the plan to cover 57 countries, including key Southeast Asian ASIC production hubs such as Malaysia and Thailand. That change triggered a scramble among mining equipment distributors and operators who rushed to move inventory before the new rates took effect. According to WIRED, companies like Luxor and AsicXchange paid up to 10 times the usual airfreight rate to charter flights from Singapore and beat customs deadlines. Following backlash from industry groups and supply chain stakeholders, the White House issued a 90-day pause in April, temporarily delaying enforcement. A revised tariff schedule published in late July lowered the rate on Southeast Asian imports to 19% but reaffirmed the top-line 100 percent rate for other chip categories that fail to meet domestic content thresholds. Trump reaffirmed the policy publicly on August 6, stating in off-camera remarks captured by Reuters that the administration would “be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, 25, 50, or even 100 percent.” The…
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