Recent tariff developments are adding cost pressure and uncertainty across global technology supply chains.
In a recent discussion, IDC’s Simon Ellis, Group Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain, and Phil Solis, Research Director of Connectivity and Smartphone Semiconductors, assess what the latest tariff developments mean for pricing, manufacturing strategy, and long-term investment decisions across the technology ecosystem.
Uncertainty is the immediate business challenge
While the Supreme Court ruled that certain prior tariffs were not legal, new tariffs are now being implemented. As a result, cost exposure remains, and the broader issue for many organizations is unpredictability.
“There just isn’t a lot of clarity around these things. What is true on a Monday is no longer true on a Tuesday. It’s hard to know what the right thing to do is because many of the structural things that companies have to do don’t take minutes or hours or days or even weeks. They can take months or even years.”
Simon Ellis, Group Vice President, IDC
For manufacturers and supply chain leaders, structural decisions such as facility investments, sourcing changes, or regional expansion are made on multi-year horizons. When policy direction shifts quickly, organizations must weigh whether to proceed, delay, or absorb incremental risk.
Pricing discipline in a volatile environment
Tariff exposure is layered on top of other cost pressures, including rising memory prices that affect smartphones, PCs, and servers.
“Assuming that these tariffs are in place for some time to come, they will leave their prices higher to account for that. It’s harder to lower prices and then re-raise them. It’s just too chaotic.”
Phil Solis, Research Director, IDC
Pricing decisions are not made lightly. When structural costs increase, prices typically follow. When costs decline, prices do not always adjust at the same pace. In an environment where additional tariffs may persist, companies are cautious about lowering prices only to reverse course later.
Cross-border complexity and tariff stacking
Modern technology products often cross borders multiple times before reaching the end customer. A semiconductor may be imported, incorporated into a module, integrated into a subsystem, and ultimately assembled into a finished product.
Each stage can introduce additional cost exposure. This stacking effect can compound pricing pressure across the value chain.
For organizations operating complex global supply networks, tracking and tracing components across jurisdictions becomes increasingly important for cost management and compliance.
Balancing efficiency and resilience
Since the pandemic, companies have navigated a persistent tension between supply chain efficiency and resilience. Tariffs represent another disruption that must be incorporated into that balance.
Increasing resilience through multi-sourcing or excess capacity can reduce risk. However, those strategies carry additional cost. Technology leaders must determine where flexibility is essential and where efficiency remains the priority.
Navigating the next move
Major manufacturing and infrastructure decisions are often made with ten- or twenty-year horizons. In a short-term policy environment marked by volatility, long-term planning becomes more complex.
For technology vendors, manufacturers, and enterprise buyers alike, the central challenge is maintaining disciplined decision-making amid continued uncertainty.
Watch the full conversation above for IDC’s detailed perspective on how these developments may shape the technology market in the months ahead.