For the tech giants building out the next generation of AI, 2025 was already going to be an expensive year. President Trump’s tariffs might balloon those price tags further—but how much remains unclear.

Microsoft, Google, Meta, and other big AI companies have pledged to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure projects this year. Much of that infrastructure consists of data centers—containing Nvidia chips, computer parts, cooling and power equipment, and other components—all of which could see various impacts from tariffs.

Where the chips fall: Right now, semiconductors are exempt from reciprocal tariffs, though the administration embarked on a probe last week to assess levying them in the coming weeks or months. Trump has also exempted certain electronics, including computer parts, a move Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC News is temporary.

Nvidia, the biggest supplier of AI chips, is shielded from some tariff impact because it assembles many of its imported semiconductors into graphic processing units in Mexico and Canada, also currently exempt from tariffs through the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a report from analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence said.

Anil Khurana, a professor focused on globalization at Georgetown University’s McDonough Business School, said it helps that the supply chain for processors is not as complex as some other sectors.

“Fortunately for the chip industry, there’s not too much criss-cross of components back and forth, unlike the auto industry, which is traveling around the world multiple times,” Khurana told Tech Brew.

Keep reading here.—PK

The auto industry is used to weathering crises—from the Great Recession to the microchip shortage in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the emerging global trade war is a different beast. Amid ever-changing trade policy moves by the Trump administration, the industry is clamoring for clear and consistent policy.

That was the message Swamy Kotagiri, CEO of Canadian auto parts supplier Magna, emphasized during a recent Automotive Press Association event at Magna’s US headquarters in Michigan.

“Getting certainty is the answer. Whatever that is, it doesn’t matter,” Kotagiri told Tech Brew. “I’m not here to opine on what’s good from a policymaking perspective.”

Control: Magna is the largest auto supplier in North America; it employs 170,000 people globally and has hundreds of facilities across 28 countries. It has more than 10,000 employees in Michigan alone. The manufacturer makes pretty much every type of vehicle component, from electrical parts to powertrain systems.

Now, it’s helping its customers navigate tariffs that include a 25% duty on all imported vehicles. Tariffs on imported car parts could take effect next month. Industry analysts have warned that the tariffs are likely to drive up prices, disrupt production, and depress sales.

“I always talk about controlling the controllable. I can’t change their viewpoint, and I can’t change their mind. We can give them data. We can show them what it means. And if that is the policy, what choice do we have, as an industry?” Kotagiri said. “The rest is personal opinion.”

Keep reading here.—JG

President Trump’s tariff bonanza will undoubtedly affect farmers, who are already preparing for the worst: lower incomes, higher production costs, and the potential shuttering of smaller farms.

But some sustainable ag tech companies could take advantage of a moment when farmers may want to “stretch their dollar” by downsizing fields and using smaller, more precise equipment than tractors, Hylio CEO Arthur Erickson told Tech Brew.

His company makes ag drones that cropdust small portions of farmland with herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizer, making farming more sustainable by reducing the amount of chemicals sprayed on land, which can then run off into waterways. Erickson told us he predicts farmers will want to take advantage of the drones’ precise spray width.

“We’re well positioned to take advantage of it,” Erickson said of the change in the market due to tariffs. “It is going to change our sales tactics a bit, and there might be a temporary dip here and there because of cash flow issues and stuff, but I think we’re going to come out on top.”

And it’s not just Hylio: Erickson told Tech Brew this particular moment could be a time when farmers want to rethink the technology they use and invest in precision agriculture machinery.

“It doesn’t have to just be [Hylio],” Erickson said. “[Farmers should] try to adopt some of these practices.”

Keep reading here.—TC