Asus strikes US-bound manufacturing to keep away from tariffs
China has been the manufacturing juggernaut of the world for many years, because of low labor prices and numerous business-friendly strikes from the federal government. However now that the U.S. is seemingly on a really private campaign to disrupt this established order, companies are beginning to look elsewhere. Asus lately confirmed that it’s transferring PC and motherboard manufacturing elsewhere…however to not the U.S.
In response to a consultant talking to traders on an earnings name, over 90 p.c of PCs and motherboards destined for the U.S. market at the moment are being manufactured exterior of China, primarily in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The interpretation supplied by PCMag doesn’t explicitly name out U.S. president Trump’s deep and always shifting import taxes as a trigger. After a wild escalation of tariffs earlier this 12 months capped at 145 p.c, the present tax fee for items and supplies shipped from China to the US sits at 30 p.c. Most different nations have a ten p.c tariff, with increased taxes set for sure nations and industries.
Trump has usually wildly swung forwards and backwards on tariffs and different financial insurance policies, most lately threatening a 100% tax on all imported chips with exceptions for firms which are investing in U.S. manufacturing. Asus, notably, wouldn’t qualify for this exception, although the chips contained in its merchandise may, as they’re supplied by firms like Intel, AMD, and TSMC.
Motherboard manufacturing, which depends on tons of of particular person parts for every board, is an particularly unlikely candidate for shifting to U.S.-based manufacturing. Apart from the upper prices of labor and actual property, the easy logistics of making these units are so focused on Asia that it will be all however inconceivable to maneuver to any western nation on a big scale. Manufacturing in China continues to be so profitable, even with out units offered within the U.S., that its home enterprise is unlikely to be imperiled by one nation massively taxing imports.
U.S. and worldwide companies that depend on China for manufacturing have been scrambling to adapt to Trump’s tariffs for many of 2025. The elevated prices have pushed costs up, particularly on completed items. Nintendo, notably, made a surprising improve within the worth of the unique Change console, now virtually 10 years previous, to adapt to market developments. Asus laptops introduced at CES reached the market with worth tags notably increased than beforehand indicated, although they’ve additionally gone on sale shortly thereafter.
Essentially the most seen upcoming product from Asus might be the ROG Xbox Ally handheld, made in partnership with Microsoft (which additionally needed to elevate costs on years-old Xbox {hardware}). European costs have allegedly leaked at €599 and €899 for the usual and upgraded X variant, however regardless of an anticipated announcement later this month, there isn’t any worth data obtainable to date.
