ASIC mining hardware will not enjoy the same tariff exemptions as computers, smart devices, and semiconductors, and bitcoin mining companies are looking for ways to adapt to Trump’s new import levies despite the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs and the 10% flat tax that replaced them.
On April 12, the Trump administration announced that it would exempt computers, smart phones, semiconductors, and similar computing hardware from its tariff regime. The move piqued speculation that ASIC mining computers may benefit from this exemption – but that’s not the case.
“Based on the latest tariff exemptions under 8471, Bitcoin mining ASICs do not qualify,” Ethan Vera, the COO of bitcoin mining software and services company Luxor, told Blockspace.
The exemption only applies to computing devices classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) code 8471, while ASIC miners belong to HTSUS code 8543 (specifically, 8543.70.9960). Code 8543 applies to “electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions.” The U.S. Customs and Borders Protection agency classified ASIC miners under this code in a June 2018 ruling.
The computer exemption would have been a godsend for U.S. miners who are bracing for tariff-induced price hikes to the hardware at the heart of their business – and all at a time when mining profitability is in the dumps.
As Blockspace reported earlier this month, miners were scrambling to expedite ASIC imports out of Southeast Asia, paying as much as quadruple the usual fare for air freight in a race for the exit against the clock. This maddash occurred in the lead up to the original reciprocal tariffs slated for April 9, which would have imposed levies of 24%, 32%, and 36% respectively on Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, the primary manufacturing hubs for ASIC miners.
The Trump administration has since paused these reciprocal tariffs, replacing them with flat 10% taxes as officials negotiate trade deals with affected countries. Even at 10%, the tariffs would raise capital expenditures for U.S. miners to make the jurisdiction less competitive than others.
“Currently miners are still paying 10% tariffs on machines coming from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in addition to the 2.6% previously. This represents a significant increase in machine costs for miners, and changes the return profile drastically,” Vera said.
Synteq Digital CEO Taras Kulyk went as far as to say that the companies in its ecosystem are looking for opportunities outside of the U.S., both for its self-mining operations and for sales pipelines to supplement U.S.-sourced revenue that the tariffs could obstruct. Vera mentioned that Luxor has “seen some interest in developing international mining sites,” but that these explorations are still in the early stages.
It’s an open question whether or not the current 10% tariffs will hold, if the old reciprocal ones will remerge, or if the Trump administration will broker deals with individual nations to diffuse the taxes entirely. Malaysian officials have said that they are open to negotiating with the U.S. on terms that “uphold the spirit of free and fair trade,” while Thailand and Indonesia are in active negotiations.
Some miners are betting that the tide will turn in their favor.
“As of today, most miners we work with seem to believe that the pause on additional tariffs will get extended as they are not racing to import machines ahead of the July 9th deadline,” Vera said.
He added that, perhaps counterintuitively, prices of ASIC miners from Asia have actually dropped “slightly” but that US-based ASICs have increased in price. ASIC trading activity in the U.S. has also slowed in the second half of April, Vera said, although he said it’s hard to tell whether or not the lull “is regular variance or caused by something else like the market decline.”
