PC vendors are preparing to increase prices ahead of President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, with early estimates signaling that costs could go up by 20% or more.
Trump only announced the tariffs two days ago, so PC makers are still scrambling to assess the impact. But price hikes are inevitable, says Kelt Reeves, CEO of Falcon Northwest, a custom desktop PC maker in Oregon.
“This was a bombshell for us and every other tech company today and it will take some time to see all the effects of the damage,” he tells PCMag. “Several of our suppliers have already told us they are raising prices, but no one seems to have a full understanding of just how much this impacts them yet as they await word from their own suppliers.”
SilverStone Technology, a Taiwan-based PC case maker, also expects to raise prices since the tariffs target the company’s suppliers in Taiwan, Vietnam, and China.
“How much and when we will increase the prices will depend on the products and where they are manufactured, at this time we won’t know exactly until probably toward end of this month or next,” SilverStone tells us.
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Others, such as custom desktop vendor Meta PC, say they have “enough inventory to hold current pricing for now, but that window won’t last forever.” Meanwhile, Maingear CEO Wallace Santos tells PCMag it’s still too early to provide specific estimates on price increases. But he adds, “I anticipate PC gamers will see an increase by approximately 20–25%,” although his company is exploring ways to mitigate the costs.
A 20% Price Hike Is Just the Beginning
IDC, a research firm that monitors the PC industry, is also trying to calculate potential price hikes for computer products. But in the meantime, IDC analyst Ryan Reith says he wouldn’t be surprised if price increases fall in the 20% range.
A 20% increase would be lower than Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which will impose duties from 32% to as high as 54% for countries including Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China, where much of the world’s electronics are made.
The 20% figure has been circulating because the tariffs will be slapped on the value of the import when it’s withdrawn from a warehouse — not the product’s final price at the store. That margin between the import’s actual value and the retail price is the area where electronics vendors and distributors could absorb some tariff costs, Reith says. But he still expects companies to pass the impact on to consumers since the duties are so high.
A smartphone factory in Vietnam. (Credit: Yen Duong/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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To reduce the tariff impact in the short-term, vendors might try some creative solutions. Reith points out that even though Trump’s reciprocal tariffs target Singapore, the rate is only at 10%. “If you’re manufacturing in Vietnam, which has a 46% rate, you could reroute and repackage your imports through a different country,” he says.
In addition, there’s always the possibility that countries like Vietnam will be willing to strike a deal with Trump, Reith says, giving them a way to attract foreign investment amid the trade war. On Friday, Trump himself said he had a call with a leader in Vietnam about an agreement that would bring its tariff rate to “zero.”
But in the short-term, Reith still expects pain for consumers. He notes that after Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs, China responded with its own, a signal that the country refuses to back down from the simmering trade conflict.
“The costs are going up and it’s going to be very swift,” he says, noting the reciprocal tariffs fully take effect on April 9. “The deadlines are very soon and inventory [for products] is pretty low.”
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Meanwhile, OpenBrand, which tracks price changes, expects the tariffs to lead to a more moderate impact. “Our models are predicting a 10-20% increase in prices by July,” OpenBrand’s chief economist Ralph McLaughlin says, although the increase could reach “between 25% and 45% by this time next year for computers and associated peripherals.”
“For high-margin products, we think retailers and manufacturers will take a bit of a haircut on their profit margins to stay competitive, so the full cost of the tariff may not get passed on to the consumer,” he says. “For low-margin products, resellers and manufacturers won’t have much choice, but to pass on close to the full cost of the tariff.”
Chip Makers Brace for Impact
In one bright spot, the reciprocal tariffs exempt semiconductors. But they won’t be spared for long. On Thursday, Trump said he still plans on tariffing foreign-made chips, which threaten to impact TSMC, the Taiwanese chip giant that builds processors for Apple, AMD, and Nvidia.
Trump’s goal with the tariffs is to push companies to bring their production to the US. Foxconn, the contract manufacturing giant, has signaled it’s making arrangements to do that. TSMC plans to build six new fabs in Arizona. The first fab is already online, but it’ll take several years before the rest of the factories are finished.
For now, TSMC’s partner AMD has only said: “We are closely monitoring the developments following [Wednesday’s] tariff announcement. Although semiconductors are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, we are assessing the details and any impacts on our broader customer and partner ecosystem. We will provide updates, as needed, as we learn more.”
About Michael Kan
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