WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Trump administration is opening an investigation into semiconductor technology and related products in its latest push to wield tariffs to pressure companies to bring more manufacturing jobs back to the United States by employing stiff taxes for companies importing products.

Federal notices published Monday said the administration is starting national security investigations into the imports of chips, which are likely to result in tariffs on the chips that are used in a wide range of tech products and related parts of the supply chain. The U.S. is highly reliant on imported chips, which lawmakers in both parties agree is a major risk to national security.

President Donald Trump’s plan to bring more manufacturing capacity back to the U.S. has relied on wielding tariffs to push companies to rearrange supply chains back from overseas. The tariffs and the chaotic rollout have been met with deep skepticism from economists and turmoil on Wall Street on fears of higher prices and reduced activity from businesses because of on-again, off-again levies on imported products.

A handful of technology companies have already announced splashy investments into U.S.-based manufacturing facilities in preparation for Trump’s sweeping tariff rollouts. Nvidia, a powerhouse chip manufacturer, was the latest company to do so with a promise to invest $500 billion in spending over the next several years to expand its U.S. footprint in an announcement that came a day after the investigation was opened.

In a blog post on Monday, Nvidia said it commissioned more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test chips in Phoenix and will build supercomputer plants in Texas. Both plants will take at least a year to reach mass production scale, according to the company.

“The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. “Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency.”

The White House touted the announcement as the “Trump Effect in action” because of his trade policies.

“Onshoring these industries is good for the American worker, good for the American economy, and good for American national security — and the best is yet to come,” the White House said in a statement.

Unwinding supply chains with parts, chemicals, production and machines that come from places around the world is a complicated endeavor that also faces uncertainties with back-and-forth trade policies coming from the White House. Some electronic products were part of exemptions to Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs along with levies on China that administration officials have since said won’t be permanent and are now under study in the semiconductor investigation.

The tariff uncertainty could prompt some companies to sit on the sidelines while they wait for more clarity on trade policy. Even with investments from major players like Nvidia and Apple, reshoring the supply chain will be a multiyear effort that would have to last well beyond Trump’s time in office.

“Some of the most crucial pieces of equipment and chemicals come from overseas, and that’s the case no matter where you make your semiconductor chips,” said Hassan Khan, the former director of economic security in the CHIPS Program Office. “The thing with these supply chains, you cannot unwind them overnight. If you’re a carmaker, you’ve got a facility in Canada that manufactures specific parts for you. Well, even if you wanted to move that facility because of tariffs, it’s not going to happen overnight, so now for years on end, you’re taking a tariff hit.”

Nvidia joins a group of major tech companies that are expanding its U.S. footprint in a push to satisfy the president’s ambitions to revitalize the economy through returning manufacturing jobs to within U.S. borders.

Apple has also announced huge capital investments to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. with a $500 billion plan unveiled in February that the company says would support 20,000 jobs.

Industry analysts and economists have questioned the feasibility of a full-scale return to manufacturing products entirely in the U.S. but ramping up American production of high-tech products like semiconductors has also been a priority for years with former President Joe Biden signing the bipartisan chips bill that provided billions in subsidies for manufacturing projects.

Trump and Biden have touted building chips and related technologies as opportunities to expand the levels of high-tech jobs of the future being created in the U.S., but the efforts also serve strategic purposes for national security and the economic future with a global artificial intelligence boom that America is driving.

“One of the most complicated parts of the manufacturing discussion is being able to separate manufacturing competitiveness from manufacturing jobs,” Khan said. “There are a bunch of national security, economics and technology competitiveness reasons for us to have a facility like (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) in Arizona, so that we can make products that have implications for the entire economy.

https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/will-more-companies-follow-nvidia-to-boost-chip-production-in-the-us-semiconductors-artificial-intelligence-manufacturing-tariffs