President Trump shocked the world late last week with sweeping tariffs that sent stock markets tumbling. Dubbed “Liberation Day,” his announcement unveiled unprecedented trade policies that triggered a $6.6 trillion sell-off across global markets. Stocks in AI companies were among the biggest losers, signalling potential trouble for the industry.
The companies leading the AI revolution are currently investing hundreds of billions of dollars into building new data centres to train AI models. Analysts warn that these tariffs will only increase the already enormous costs of these efforts.
Among the measures announced: a 20% price hike on all U.S. goods entering the EU. China has been hit with a 34% levy — a figure that could rise to 50% if Beijing fails to lift its retaliatory duties on U.S. exports. Trump has also imposed harsh tariffs on several Far Eastern countries, a move that could significantly affect the semiconductor industry and the AI data centre build-out in the U.S. Taiwan, home to TSMC — the manufacturer of Nvidia’s GPUs and most other advanced chips used in servers — is now facing tariffs of 32%.
The U.S. imports a quarter of its steel, with Canada and Mexico — the first and third largest suppliers — already facing 25% tariffs. Brazil, the second-largest producer of steel for the U.S. market, is now facing a 10% levy. Meanwhile, South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan — all significant suppliers — are facing tariffs ranging from 24% to 32%, as well as Germany and the Netherlands, both under the 20% blanket levy imposed on EU countries.
With rising costs for construction materials, computer parts, cooling infrastructure, and power supplies, the financial burden could become so significant that companies might consider building data centres abroad instead of in the U.S.
The big question: Will the rising costs in the U.S. create an opportunity for other countries to gain an advantage in the AI race? How long will companies wait — six weeks, six months — to make investment decisions in such uncertain times?
As costs soar, supply chains tighten, and the global tech race intensifies, what will these tariffs mean for the future of the data centre industry?
With Trump’s proposed tariffs raising concerns across multiple sectors, our latest Q1 2025 Survey explores how industry leaders expect these policies to impact the data centre market.
Take the full survey here!
—
Want more insights on the GCC data centre market? Keep an eye out on our Events page to see where we’ll be taking the next GDCA event, and watch out on our Publications page for the launch of our latest reports.