Nvidia and AMD rush to stockpile graphics cards ahead of Trump tariff that could raise prices by 40%

[Mark Fuller]

You voted for economic isolationism and terminal decline. Gonna be great to watch

I don't understand, could you be more explicit about the reasons for economic isolation and terminal decline.

 

[yRaz]

Nice job on the verbal masturbation. You can try to explain it away any way you want, but the bottom line is that "tariff" is just another word for "tax", period. Americans hate taxes, so I can understand why Right-wingers have to confuse them with another word and pretend it's being paid by someone else.

Tariffs are NOT paid by China or any other country. They are paid by the American companies that import the products and then they are passed on to the consumers. Plain and simple.

I understand the reasoning behind tariffs; to force companies to bring back jobs and manufacturing to the US. It simply won't work for two main reasons. First, many of the products being imported can't even be manufactured in the US because of the lack of supply chain. It would literally take decades to create the kind of supply chains needed to manufacture certain imported products.

Secondly, tariffs won't bring manufacturing back to the US because it's much, MUCH more expensive to produce things there. You could put 200% tariffs on China and American companies still won't produce those goods domestically. They will simply move production to the next cheapest country.

The US is one of the most expensive places to produce anything, so you would literally have to put massive tariffs on 90%+ of the countries in the world to really force companies to manufacture domestically. Try and manufacture iPhones in the US for example. Apple would probably have to sell them for $9,000 each to make a profit when you consider that American workers expect $30+/hr wages, full benefits, and a month of paid vacation every year.

You can either have cheap products coming from China or you can have ridiculously expensive stuff made in America that nobody can afford. Sorry America, but you can't have it both ways.

I can tell you didn't bother reading my post

 

[Mark Fuller]

I don't know why so many people are anti-American. This is the marketplace where they sell all of their manufactured goods. Were not for US they would have no where to sell their products in the first place. Not only that, we pay for like 90% of all foreign aid in the world and for the most part fund most of the budget of the United Nations. Were it not for America and western Europe they would have nothing.

 

[Porkous]

I am interested in the subject. Is a subject that affects many spheres of society & civilizations.

Now. Why these tariffs became an idea before they became really?

I think they said something about deficit.
USA spends more than it does produce (imports/exports).

Well, well, well. Why is that bad ?

Is bad because apparently in the USA a lot business bought good stuff from the world, then as business would sell for double the buck inside US.

You cannot change this business approach, but the issue might be that people don't know stuff are really cheap now days, and that they get expensive just because you can afford it, the average consumer is rich.

If someone wanted to sell a washing machine made in china to you for a price much, much more below market price, you would tell no! Stuff like that must be cheaply made... You say.
But if a business put a stamp of approval on it and a nice brand name... Suddenly that washing machine is amazing and also affordable. How come ?

Now you have "cheap" stuff flooding your market because no one invests in US fabs anymore.

US is a freaking continent with population so little compared to the land mass. You make fabs and people will want to work there. You got space!

 

[Achaios]

I don't know why so many people are anti-American. This is the marketplace where they sell all of their manufactured goods. Were not for US they would have no where to sell their products in the first place. Not only that, we pay for like 90% of all foreign aid in the world and for the most part fund most of the budget of the United Nations. Were it not for America and western Europe they would have nothing.

"So many ppl"

It's Pakis, Ottomans, Qatar, Taliban, the Houthis and Iran.

No matter how you reckon them they dont't tally to being sooooo numerous after all.

The Houthis get the Fear of God put into them as we speak. Not sure how long they will be a part of the Axis.

 

[Poppys]

The kind of buyer that buys a 90 series GPU would still buy it whether it costs $2K, $3K or $4K or even possibly more than that.

So, I don't think this is much of an issue, particularly for buyers of the 80 and 90 series GPUs.

This isn't about just the newest releases. This is *everything*. New motherboard, processors, memory sticks, power supplies. They're going to almost double in price. PS5, XBox, HDTVs, cell phones, cars, etc. Going in for maintenance on your car for new brakes they'll double. Extended warranties will double. Housing insurance, medical insurance, it will all double. They all depend on parts and devices from all over the world because the USA simply does not have the workforce, nor the materials to build them ourselves. We are sitting at 0 unemployment right now. Most businesses are all hiring. All your favorite restaurants close early still, there are no more 24hr stores open. There are not enough people to work. It's why Musk went on Twitter the other day saying we need more immigrants because we don't have anyone to do the jobs. But most people outside the USA are all liberal, so that will never happen. We will cut off our noses to spite our faces. Ridiculous.

 

[SRB]

A nice theory that fails to fit the facts. Intel spends 50% more on R&D today than a decade ago -- more than AMD and NVIDIA both combined. Intel is floundering because it produces chips primarily for itself, whereas TSMC makes them for hundreds of clients.

Yeah, except that's not when it happened. You need to revisit history.....Intel had the market all to themselves when AMD fell on it's face. What did Intel do? If they spent it on r&d, they threw it out the window. All we got was 4 cores for forever. 22nm plusssss..........14++++++++++, 10, released with 20 chips in China in order to say it shipped, and, nearly 10 years later, they're still using 14nm designs ported to a nearly 10 year old 10nm marketed as Intel 7. The numbers you quote are the panic R&D that Pat started before they gave him his gold watch. The finance people are back running the show. And where are they at? Intel 18a (whatever that really is) is doing fine, no really, we shipped some customers advance silicon and it has a low defect rate. Yields? Did I mention we have a low defect rate?

In the meantime, AMD nearly went bust, threw a hail mary, and haven't let off the gas. Is every generation worlds better? No, but the hit more often than not. TSMC is wiping the floor with Intel, and they're not speaking or acting like their anywhere close to solving their problems. Odds are the finance guys will bust up the company, since that will line their pockets the quickest with the least risk.....to them.

 

[Mark Fuller]

This isn't about just the newest releases. This is *everything*. New motherboard, processors, memory sticks, power supplies. They're going to almost double in price. PS5, XBox, HDTVs, cell phones, cars, etc. Going in for maintenance on your car for new brakes they'll double. Extended warranties will double. Housing insurance, medical insurance, it will all double. They all depend on parts and devices from all over the world because the USA simply does not have the workforce, nor the materials to build them ourselves. We are sitting at 0 unemployment right now. Most businesses are all hiring. All your favorite restaurants close early still, there are no more 24hr stores open. There are not enough people to work. It's why Musk went on Twitter the other day saying we need more immigrants because we don't have anyone to do the jobs. But most people outside the USA are all liberal, so that will never happen. We will cut off our noses to spite our faces. Ridiculous.

I don't think we'll have much immigration because our corporations depend on the cheap foreign labor that keeps the prices down for their supplies to manufacture with, plus the fact that even minimum wage is about seven times as much as these laborers get paid and you can forget about the typical American wage earner working for so little. The solution to this problem by our producers, especially agricultural commodities, is to hire illegal aliens which they are doing to this day, which further undermines our system. And it's not just US, the whole world is ran by a bunch of hypocrites who are hell bent on taking care of themselves first. BTW, the agricultural commodities I mentioned are about the only thing that we have left that they haven't moved offshore somewhere else. To our credit we still feed the world and still have the best medical care system in the world. Seems like we the people exist for the sole purpose of letting the rest of humanity bite the hand that feeds it. Ho hum, just trying to wake somebody up.

 

[Endymio]

Yeah, except that's not when it happened. You need to revisit history.....Intel had the market all to themselves when AMD fell on it's face. What did Intel do? If they spent it on r&d, they threw it out the window. All we got was 4 cores for forever. 22nm plusssss..........14++++++++++, 10, released with 20 chips in China in order to say it shipped, and, nearly 10 years later, they're still using 14nm ... TSMC is wiping the floor with Intel.

A whole lot of blather only to wind up agreeing with me. Intel's woes are process based, not design. AMD didn't beat Intel -- TSMC did. Why? Because Intel makes chips for Intel, but TSMC makes them for the world. And with each new node, TSMC starts with small, high-yield, high-margin smartphone chips, then GPUs, and then finally moves to CPUs. Intel doesn't have that luxury.

The numbers you quote are the panic R&D that Pat started before they gave him his gold watch.

Now you're simply being silly. Gelsinger took over as CEO in 2021 -- the very next year, Intel set a new R&D spending record -- $18.9B. That's in a year that NVidia and AMD were both spending less than $6B on R&D. Facts do matter, you know.

 

[bennyg]

I don't care if the US wants to roger itself with import taxes. It is going to annoy me that any early stock of anything laptop announced at CES that I'm interested in will probably all get sent to the US until the stupid officially begins, and the boutique US based resellers like EVOC and Eluktronics are going to die unless they can figure out an offshore workaround

 

[HardwareHunt365]

Making an informed decision will be more critical than ever in 2025, as hardware prices are likely to reach all-time highs. Maximize the use of what you already have—keep it until it no longer serves its purpose. Don’t give in to the hype or feel pressured to pre-order; instead, wait for thorough reviews and for prices to stabilize. And don’t be afraid to skip something you’ve been eagerly anticipating if it doesn’t meet your expectations. Careful research and a clear understanding of your needs and budget will ensure you make the right choice at the right time.

 

[Loadedaxe]

Some of you really need to go and read. You have no clue how Tariffs work and their purpose.

Why do you think China puts high tariffs on US made cars?

 

[loki1944]

I don't know why so many people are anti-American. This is the marketplace where they sell all of their manufactured goods. Were not for US they would have no where to sell their products in the first place. Not only that, we pay for like 90% of all foreign aid in the world and for the most part fund most of the budget of the United Nations. Were it not for America and western Europe they would have nothing.

Spot on.

 

[Eldrach]

I mean, Trump has a point - but he's going about it wrong. Just raising the tariffs overnight will help nothing, and only bring pain to the American people. If he said to the manufacturers "Within 5 years, your goods will at least have to be partially produced on US soil" - Then they would adjust, build foundries, factories, jobs before the deadline. The way it's being done, no one has time to adjust and just have to push that price over to the consumers, so nobody wins. Maybe some will think about locating to the US to save on tariffs - if the US Government removes said tariffs on raw materials needed for production, but alot of companies will just consider the US as "lost market" and start looking towards other markets the west doesn't really want them to be looking at - Russia, the Middle East will be first on the list

 

[Mark Fuller]

I mean, Trump has a point - but he's going about it wrong. Just raising the tariffs overnight will help nothing, and only bring pain to the American people. If he said to the manufacturers "Within 5 years, your goods will at least have to be partially produced on US soil" - Then they would adjust, build foundries, factories, jobs before the deadline. The way it's being done, no one has time to adjust and just have to push that price over to the consumers, so nobody wins. Maybe some will think about locating to the US to save on tariffs - if the US Government removes said tariffs on raw materials needed for production, but alot of companies will just consider the US as "lost market" and start looking towards other markets the west doesn't really want them to be looking at - Russia, the Middle East will be first on the list

The reason goods are produced offshore in the first place is cheap foreign labor. He could try to tell manufacturers to produce some of their goods here within 5 years but he is not that powerful just because he is the president.

 

[manowar51]

To those complaining about the increases in the price of electronics. You are aware that in China workers do 12 hour days and 6 day weeks for a fraction of US minimum wage in order for you to get your cheap electronics?

Placing tariffs on countries like this is the moral thing to do. Paying a bit more for your electronics so it doesn't get made by effective slave labour is fine by me.

And personally I think this will be effective. There are so many foreign companies who get 100% of their income from the US market.

 

[Loadedaxe]

This isn't about just the newest releases. This is *everything*. New motherboard, processors, memory sticks, power supplies. They're going to almost double in price. PS5, XBox, HDTVs, cell phones, cars, etc. Going in for maintenance on your car for new brakes they'll double. Extended warranties will double. Housing insurance, medical insurance, it will all double. They all depend on parts and devices from all over the world because the USA simply does not have the workforce, nor the materials to build them ourselves. We are sitting at 0 unemployment right now. Most businesses are all hiring. All your favorite restaurants close early still, there are no more 24hr stores open. There are not enough people to work. It's why Musk went on Twitter the other day saying we need more immigrants because we don't have anyone to do the jobs. But most people outside the USA are all liberal, so that will never happen. We will cut off our noses to spite our faces. Ridiculous.

Like they have in the last 4 years?
We are not at 0% unemployment.

 

[TooQik]

Intel's woes are process based, not design. AMD didn't beat Intel -- TSMC did. Why? Because Intel makes chips for Intel, but TSMC makes them for the world.

So you state that Intel design and make their own CPUs but then fail to acknowledge AMD's current CPU successes to their design, rather passing it all off onto TSMC! Way to miss the mark.

Intel also makes chips for the world. Ever used one of their network chips?

 

[Mark Fuller]

Like they have in the last 4 years?
We are not at 0% unemployment.

How can anyone arrive at a figure of 0% unemployment. During the height of the Viet Nam war it was at 2% and my economics instructor said it would never go below that because there is always someone in between jobs or sick or hurt.

 

[wiyosaya]

Now you're simply being silly. Gelsinger took over as CEO in 2021 -- the very next year, Intel set a new R&D spending record -- $18.9B. That's in a year that NVidia and AMD were both spending less than $6B on R&D. Facts do matter, you know.

And what good has all that R&D money done for Intel? IMO, Intel's issues go far beyond their R&D budget, and just throwing money at pi in the sky items seems to be doing nothing good for Intel - ATM.

Perhaps Intel should switch to making and selling space heaters.

 

[wiyosaya]

Now you're simply being silly. Gelsinger took over as CEO in 2021 -- the very next year, Intel set a new R&D spending record -- $18.9B. That's in a year that NVidia and AMD were both spending less than $6B on R&D. Facts do matter, you know.

Yes, Intel spent big, but IMO, NVidia and AMD got the most "bang" for their bucks. Spending is irrelevant. What is produced from that spending is the only thing that matters. Anyone can spend a lot of money on a polished turd, but a turd is still a turd, and apparently, the polished turds are ripe for fools like Intel.

People think Trump is going to save the economy. More likely, he will trash it even more.

Elect a clown, Expect a circus (from a bumper sticker). It certainly looks like the US is getting that circus.

 

[Subset6]

There is simply not much of a reason for this new gen at this point, unless you’re rocking a 7+ year old gpu. Things that normally benefit for this type of upgrade coming from the previous 2 gens would be multi-monitor setup (eyefinity), high end hmd 4K, 8k display, path tracing support. These at this point are very very niche. Also it’s important to note the current landscape of consoles. A high end 3000, 4000 gpu is already orders of magnitude greater than a ps5 pro. When games dev’s look at where to target performance consoles are a big factor in this equation. If you already own the above it makes very little sense to upgrade. Essentially wait for ps6, find where that baseline is and upgrade accordingly.

 

[captaincranky]

Some of you really need to go and read. You have no clue how Tariffs work and their purpose.

Why do you think China puts high tariffs on US made cars?

You're correct of course. Unfortunately it's a moot point..
Replacement parts for Harley-Davidcons are coming from China. American cars are being built, to one extent or another in Mexico and Canada..

A long, long time ago, the idea was floated that, the US could switch, "from a manufacturing based economy, to an information based economy". (So long ago in Fact, I don't know which administration was prosecuting it). It seemed to make "perfect sense at the time". The skillful wielding of propaganda makes even the stupidest sh!t sound brilliant, even to brilliant minds, as it doesn't target the intellect, but rather one's belief system). So here we are, with a ton of info to sell. Unfortunately it appears that Google has cornered that market. With manufacturing having been relinquished to China. To be fair though, our F-35s are selling like hotcakes.

Well, Americans are the most spoiled consumers on the planet. The only thing that saves us, is the fact that the fed has convinced the entire world that the US dollar is the only currency worth having. $1.00 US, equals about 66 cents in three of our most loyal allies, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. You computer "builders" should check out the prices those poor souls have to pay for components.

In any case, the American consumer, (myself included), is both greedy, selfish, and stupid. And before I forget, hypocritical as well. < That last point point being the most relevant.

Oh sure, we rail on about the plight of the poor Asian worker, but we gladly and voraciously grab up the fruits of their long hours and low pay, every time we walk into Walmart or log onto Amazon.

"But we care deeply", that's the most important thing, isn't it? Oh yeah.

(Oh well, if you can't believe your own bullsh!t, whose can you?)

I'll try not to make this too political, but it serves to at least partially explain trimp's issue with Panama:

It seems that at one time, he had one of his grand hotels there. Much as his SOP is here in the states, he refused to pay his taxes, and didn't bother to report the incomes of his employees either. As you might expect, Panama got sick and tired of this, confiscated the hotel, and stripped his name off of it.

I did not research this, so I can only consider it, and communicate it as, "hearsay". So, if any of you want to follow up on this, by all means, go for it.

As to what Canada's response to what the economic threats being made against them should be; I think Trudeau should kill the power to every red state Canada currently supplies. Preferably, January 20th, 2025 at high noon. Think of it as, "declining to attend the inauguration".

FWIW, I'm a straight, white, male, "boomer". and former Republican. But, it likely might seem to some of you that I've morphed into, a "leftie", a Socialist, or a "libtard". I'm proudly all three now. The reason I mention this is twofold. One, the Holy Roman Catholic Church still (literally) sells the concept that, "admission absolves guilt". And two, to save you the trouble of getting posts yanked for calling me those rude things.

Consider it, my "Happy New year" gift. Cheers

 

[Chris Rchr]

If it is the products imported into the USA that will be overtaxed at customs, US products manufactured in China and sent elsewhere, Europe, etc., should therefore not be affected? This is where I tell myself that either I am lucky to be in France... without Trump's face, or I am going to get screwed because Nvidia and its ilk are going to inflate their margins by maintaining tariffs outside the USA that should not affect me but which they are not going to deprive themselves of.

 

[sahba ra]

It’s surprising to see how much impact these tariffs could have on tech prices. If the price of GPUs and other devices rises significantly, it might discourage many people from upgrading their systems. It also seems like manufacturers are in a tough spot, trying to balance between absorbing costs or passing them on to consumers. Hopefully, companies can find a way to minimize the effect on buyers, but it’s hard to ignore how much these changes could shake things up in the tech market.