US President Donald Trump’s newly imposed tariffs may impact Big Tech’s plans to expand AI infrastructure.

The tariffs, announced on Apr. 2, include 34% duties on imports from China, 32% on Taiwan, and 25% on South Korea, along with a baseline 10% tariff on all imports.

Electronics, including smartphones, PCs, and data-center equipment, accounted for nearly US$486 billion in imports last year.

The tariffs could delay major AI projects like Stargate, a US$500 billion data-center initiative by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle. Analysts are skeptical about its feasibility due to economic challenges posed by the tariffs.

Major cloud service providers like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon may also face financial pressures, potentially reducing AI and cloud infrastructure spending.

Microsoft has already scaled back US and European data-center projects due to oversupply.

HSBC warned of reduced spending by cloud companies next year and revised its price target for Nvidia.