Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has reportedly discussed the plan with semiconductor industry executives, emphasizing to them the importance of the measure in ensuring economic security.

Stock market candle bar chart over the main computer chip on abstract circuit board background. ( stock photo courtesy of Sankai via Getty Images)

Shanthi M·Stocktwits

Published Sep 26, 2025 | 1:43 AM GMT-04

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The semiconductor industry is likely to face pushback, as a report suggests that the Trump administration is considering a more stringent plan to bring chip manufacturing onshore.

A Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the concept, stated that the new plan envisions penalizing companies that don’t maintain a 1:1 ratio for domestic manufacturing versus imports, with tariffs. The rumored plan aligns with a past message from President Donald Trump that semiconductor companies that don’t invest more in the U.S. would be slapped with tariffs as much as 100%.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) continued to attract ‘bullish’ sentiment (57/100) from among the retail users of Stocktwits. The message volume on the stream was at ‘high’ levels.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has reportedly discussed the plan with semiconductor industry executives, emphasizing to them the importance of the measure in ensuring economic security. The U.S. companies now source much of their chip needs from overseas, particularly Taiwan, which is seen as vulnerable to Chinese aggression or natural calamities.

The report stated that the implementation of the plan could face challenges, as it would be difficult to determine the tariffs on products powered by chips made in the U.S. but assembled abroad.

Sources told the Journal that if a company can guarantee manufacturing one million chips in the U.S., it would be credited with that amount. Over time, this credit can be used by the company and its customers to import without any levy until its plant comes online in the U.S. That said, the companies could be given some grace period initially to adjust their U.S. manufacturing capacity.

Companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Dell Technologies (DELL), which source components from various parts of the world, could be among the most severely affected, according to the report. These companies may have to track the number of chips they source from overseas and match the numbers in the U.S. On the other hand, the new plan could be a positive for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Micron Technology (MU), and GlobalFoundries (GFS), which have all increased their U.S. production capacity.

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