Topic
Import tariffs on semiconductors and exemptions tied to domestic manufacturing.
The OECD says Mexico's chip industry does design, assembly and testing, stopping short of fabrication, so a rules-of-origin threshold would land on parts the corridor cannot make. Washington has not named a percentage.
Reality
Relief comes only with more American investment, which turns a customs rate into a capital budget for two Korean memory makers at a moment when the bond market has no appetite for another inflation input.
Reality
Politico reports the administration is weighing chip tariffs that would follow the chip into the laptop and the data center rack, so hardware budgets take a second increase from the same AI demand that caused the first.
Reality
Commerce's report on whether the 25% advanced-chip tariff should keep sparing American data centres was due on 1 July and has not appeared, so every US capacity plan is priced against an assumption.
Reality
The AI servers already ship and Mac mini assembly is next. The disclosure that matters for operators is the calendar, not the capex.
Reality