Tariffs

[Brian_B]

Now, being April 1, maybe I'm jumping at a joke. But I've seen multiple articles about it today and it seems credible. This is one of the more detailed articles I found:

'Absolute Madness': Trump's Aluminum Tariffs Hit GPUs, Desktop Cases

PC vendors say they thought the 25% tariff was on raw aluminum and steel, not finished products. Unfortunately, the policy also targets aluminum 'derivative' products.

www.pcmag.com

So, there is a 25% steel and aluminum tariff in effect right now in the US. Apparently, this is impacting PC parts, particularly the aluminum tariff, as it's not just bulk material imports.

There's a specific tariff provision in the Aluminum tariff that states if an item is imported with aluminum pieces, the value of the aluminum components are subject to the tariff. Furthermore, if the price breakdown isn't made available, the tariff is then enacted on the value of the entire item. There's an entire list of items that this applies to, and electronics/computers are on the list.

So... if your GPU has a $3 aluminum heat sink, and the vendor hasn't split that cost out for Customs, you get a 25% tariff slapped on the value of the entire $2,000 GPU.

Apparently, steel doesn't have the same regulation, and isn't hitting parts the same way.

 

[Ditchinit]

I'm curious ... other than heatsinks, which should be copper, what electronics parts are made from aluminum? Other, better, electrical conductors are available to do the same job aluminum might.

 

[Grimlakin]

I'm curious ... other than heatsinks, which should be copper, what electronics parts are made from aluminum? Other, better, electrical conductors are available to do the same job aluminum might.

Lots of heatsinks are copper core aluminum fins.

 

[Brian_B]

Copper conducts heat away from metal really well, but aluminum is better at transferring heat to the air.

Thats why you see a lot of Copper block aluminum fin setups

As far as other components - some structural items (Lian Li cases, for example, and many laptops).

Some conductors/connectors use aluminum (often copper or gold plated)

Hard drive cases and some platters. Some SSD boards / heat sinks

Some PCBs will use it as a substrate layer for strength

Probably a lot of other things but that’s just kinda off the top of my head