The global IT industry thrives on interconnected supply chains. For ITAM, IT logistics, and, well, anyone who’s going to buy a laptop in 2025, here’s why new tariffs could mean an increase in prices.
Trump famously said in October 2024, “The most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff. And it’s my favorite word.” Since then, the Trump Administration has been making good on it, with tariffs being imposed left, right, and centre. For IT logistics, there are proposed tariffs of up to 100% on semiconductors imported from Taiwan, which are poised to disrupt corporate IT supply chains. Although the proposed tariffs aim to reshore manufacturing to the US and alleviate reliance on international suppliers, they may, in fact, bring about consequences that will directly lead to skyrocketing costs, protracted lead times, and a general uncertainty for businesses that rely on IT infrastructure to operate.
A MacBook that costs $1,599 in January is likely to cost $1,799 or more in March, not due to an improved chip, but simply due to tariff-driven increases in semiconductor and assembly costs.
Panayiotis Demetriou, Head of Supply Chain at Dots
At Dots, we prioritise our clients’ uninterrupted service, and we achieve this by keeping ahead of disruptions. As Head of Supply Chain, I will break down what these tariffs actually mean, how they can affect your IT strategy in 2025, and how Dots is positioned, through an extensive multi-vendor and warehousing network, to assist you in overcoming these challenges.
How Tariffs Will Impact Corporate IT and IT Logistics
Behind the high tech shine, AI-led innovation, and unicorn hunting, globally interconnected supply chains are what have allowed the IT industry to blossom. From semiconductors in Taiwan to Chinese-dominated assembly lines and Korean displays, all IT hardware makes a trip any backpacker would envy before landing at your workstation. Tariffs on key components such as semiconductors, displays, and batteries aimed not to enhance global logistics but rather to benefit only one player will create an environment where the production costs are artificially increased, ultimately passing that cost down the supply chain to land on businesses and end users.
Skyrocketing Prices on IT Equipment
A MacBook that costs $1,599 in January is likely to cost $1,799 or more in March, not due to an improved chip, but simply due to tariff-driven increases in semiconductor and assembly costs. This price surge won’t just affect laptops; it’ll likely ripple across corporate IT, impacting enterprises and data centres, including servers, switches, and a long et cetera.
Supply Chain Disruptions: Delays, Costs, and Uncertainty
Introducing tariffs in certain regions or on certain routes will in turn shift production plants to new, tariff-exempt regions. This either directly leads to delays in production or it forces companies to use transshipments, meaning companies make shipments via intermediate destinations instead of shipping directly. This further adds to shipping costs and potential customs delays, with the supply chain taking the toll.
For scenarios such as end-user remote onboarding and offboarding, when done as a just-in-time procurement strategy, IT & HR managers will “feel the squeeze.”
Relocating Production—Just, Not to the US
The Trump Administration’s main aim is to boost the American economy by moving production back to the US. While this is aligned with the Administation’s values, the reality seems that companies will just move to other low-cost regions such as Vietnam, India, and Sri Lanka. These relocations will cause uncertainty over the stock availability in the short term and alter the pricing unpredictably.
Beating the Tariffs: How Dots Helps IT Teams Stay Ahead
Dots has been set up with the distinctive structure of an open catalogue, which cushions the impact of external forces with the support of our multi-vendor and warehousing network.
- Multi-Vendor Cost Optimisation: Dots is not a single-source supply chain. Our multi-vendor, multi-supplier network builds flexibility into our supply chain, so we are able to achieve stable, consistent pricing on IT procurement.
- Strategic Warehousing and Stocking: With distribution hubs from the US to Brazil and Germany to the Far East, all businesses can buffer any supply chain delays, whether for a single laptop or 100 IT hardware kits and regardless of global strains.
- Bulk Purchasing for Price Stability: Dots’ well-established relationships with large manufacturers means we can secure IT hardware ahead of price hikes. Our clients can lock in hardware a year or a few quarters ahead of time.
- Localised Logistics for Faster Shipments: Regional warehouses enable efficient logistics routes and customs processing. This ensures timely, fully transparent, trackable deliveries, keeping deployments on schedule.
- Proactive Asset Management: Through proactive warehousing and procurement we are able to provide detailed asset management not just of your assets but also of those assets in storage earmarked for the future. We can notify our clients when their hardware reaches critical levels, enabling us to restock at pre-agreed pricing to avoid shortages.
Restock your warehouse before prices skyrocket.
Want to get ahead of the price hike? Restock your warehouse at the lowest current prices before tariffs push up the price of IT hardware.
The Bottom Line: IT Spending Shouldn’t Be at the Mercy of Tariffs
Some decisions taken with a lack of understanding of the global supply chain can lead to an uncertain future in the corporate IT global infrastructure. Businesses have to endure disruptions and ballooning costs directly from these expected tariffs.
Dots’ multivendor approach, strategic warehousing, and proactive supply chain management enables businesses to lessen risk of tariffs and flatten skyrocketing IT spending.
If you feel uncertainty about the impact of the tariffs, or simply want to better understand alternative solutions, Dots is here to help. Not a client yet? Book a free demo to find out how we can support your ITAM and IT logistics needs. We’ll be happy to help.
