Nvidia, Broadcom, Marvell Lead Chip Stock Slide After Trump Hits China, Taiwan With New Tariffs
Artificial intelligence chip stocks including NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD), Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO), Arm Holdings PLC-ADR (NASDAQ:ARM), Marvell Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MRVL), Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE:TSM), Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) are trading lower on Friday as the Trump administration announced tariffs on trading partners including China and Taiwan amid an exciting earnings season with the Big Tech giants fueling the AI frenzy.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) are leading a $250 billion AI infrastructure surge through 2025–’26, underscoring their commitment to fueling the next industrial revolution. These tech giants are ramping up capital expenditures on data centers, servers and networking to support AI development at scale — turning ambition into infrastructure.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives calls it a “watershed moment” for technology, with years of explosive growth still ahead. JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee highlights that Meta is guiding for nearly $100 billion in capex by 2026, Alphabet raised its 2025 capex outlook to $85 billion, and Microsoft’s September quarter capex surpassed $30 billion — on pace for over $100 billion annually.
Also Read: Meta’s Q2 Results Turn Skeptics Into Believers As Capex Narrative Shifts
Tariffs: On Thursday, President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping new round of tariffs on 69 countries, sharply raising import duties to escalate pressure over national security, fentanyl and China. Just before a significant trade deadline, Trump signed an executive order raising tariffs between 10% and 41% on dozens of U.S. trading partners.
He increased tariffs on Canadian goods from 25% to 35%, citing Ottawa’s failure to cooperate on curbing fentanyl flows. Trump also slapped Brazil with a 50% tariff, while India, Taiwan and Switzerland now face duties between 20% and 39%. A baseline 10% tariff now applies to all countries not listed in the annex.
He justified the action by citing national security and the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, declaring a national emergency tied to the U.S. trade deficit. Trump warned that several countries had failed to align with U.S. economic and security interests.
Mexico avoided a 30% tariff after President Claudia Sheinbaum secured a 90-day reprieve through a direct call with Trump. South Korea agreed to a 15% tariff and pledged $350 billion in U.S. investments. Meanwhile, China has until Aug. 12 to finalize a long-term tariff deal after preliminary agreements were reached earlier this year.
Semiconductor and Big Tech ETFs, including VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) and iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX), were down close to 2% on Friday.
Why It Matters: Recent developments have reshaped the semiconductor industry’s interconnected ecosystem, directly impacting sector valuations.
The U.S. temporarily paused tech export restrictions to China to avoid derailing trade negotiations and to support Trump’s effort to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the Financial Times.
At the same time, Nvidia resumed H20 AI chip sales to China, reversing an April ban imposed over national security concerns. This shift is expected to benefit semiconductor companies as U.S.-China talks resume in Stockholm.
Further fueling momentum, the White House launched “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan” last week, detailing more than 90 federal actions to strengthen innovation, infrastructure and AI leadership in the U.S.
Semiconductor stocks rebounded Wednesday after earlier losses tied to delays in the $500 billion Stargate project. The administration plans to accelerate data center and chip plant permits, expand workforce training, simplify regulations and ensure AI contracts promote fairness and transparency in large language models.
Nvidia crossed the $4 trillion valuation mark this week, and Microsoft neared the $4 trillion mark, according to Wedbush’s Ives, fueled by surging AI demand and massive infrastructure investments. He noted both companies as foundational to the AI revolution and believes their momentum could push valuations toward $5 trillion within 18 months as the tech bull market enters what he calls an early-stage AI-driven expansion.
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