US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are coming at a steep cost for Western tech players, with policies intended to restrain China, instead, burdening Western players with bns in losses.

More restrictions: AI chimpmaker Nvidia is now required to obtain a license for exporting its high-performance H20 chip to China, The company said in a recent filing (pdf). The restriction — imposed due to concerns that the chips could be used in supercomputing applications — also includes AMD’s MI308 chip and its equivalents.

The restrictions also reportedly blindsided major Chinese cloud providers, who were expecting H20 chip deliveries by year-end. Nvidia could lose the USD 18 bn orders secured this year from China’s huge market, which generated USD 17 bn in revenues in the chipmaker’s FY that ended on 26 January.

Less money for chipmakers: The added restrictions and back-and-forth tariffs are estimated to charge Nvidia an additional USD 5.5 bn quarterly starting 2026, the company said. Nvidia’s shares fell some 7% yesterday on the news, bringing its YTD losses to over 24%, while AMD’s dropped 7%.

The impact extends beyond Nvidia and AMD: New export controls could also inflict over USD 1 bn a year in annual costs on US semiconductor equipment manufacturers, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two sources it said are in the know. Industry estimates peg annual revenue losses at USD 350 mn each for three of the largest US chip equipment firms — Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA — the newswire said.

Adding to older woes: To curb China’s chipmaking industry, the former US administration issued successive export controls on advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, which erased USD bns in revenues from US chipmakers. Despite the reciprocal tariff pause, the current administration started a probe into chipmakers’ imports, and is planning additional duties on the industry.

European players are feeling the heat as well: The Netherlands’ ASML fell short of marketexpectations by nearly EUR 1 bn in fresh orders, blaming growing uncertainty following the US tariff announcements.

Market reax: Shares of the Dutch tech multinational have lost 16% since January, with 6.2% alone in early trading on Wednesday. The “increased uncertainty in the macro environment” is likely to persist for some time, ASML’s CEO Christophe Fouquet told the Financial Times.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are slightly inching up this morning. Hang Seng (Hong Kong) is up 1.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei is up 0.8% and Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%. Wall Street futures are also rising after yesterday’s tech selloff.

EGX30

31,031

-0.5% (YTD: +4.3%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 51.04

Sell 51.17

USD (CIB)

Buy 51.03

Sell 51.13

Interest rates (CBE)

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

11,634

+0.2% (YTD: -3.3%)

ADX

9261

-0.3% (YTD: -1.7%)

DFM

5053

-0.5% (YTD: -2.0%)

S&P 500

5276

-2.2% (YTD: -10.3%)

FTSE 100

8276

+0.3% (YTD: +1.3%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4967

-0.1% (YTD: +1.4%)

Brent crude

USD 62.88

+0.7%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 3.25

+0.1%

Gold

USD 3,346.40

+3.3%

BTC

USD 84,531.10

+0.4% (YTD: -9.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.5% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 3.4 bn (24.3% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 4.3% YTD.

In the green: Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (+1.9%), Madinet Masr (+1.3%), and Eastern Company (+0.9%).

In the red: Ibnsina Pharma (-3.4%), GB Corp (-2.8%), and Rameda (-2.5%).

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Orascom Development will pay EGP 434.5 mn in dividends at EGP 0.384 per share for its 2024 earnings, it said in an EGX disclosure (pdf). The shareholders’ redemption date is still under wraps.

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