US President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday evening that the United States will impose “very soon” “relatively large” tariffs on its imports of semiconductors, the essential component in the global race for leadership in artificial intelligence.

On the sidelines of a dinner held at the White House in honor of several top US technology company CEOs, Trump said, “We will impose tariffs very soon. They won’t be very large but they will be relatively large.”

A month ago, the Republican president announced his intention to impose a 100 percent tax on imported “chips and semiconductors,” but did not specify when he planned to do so.

On Thursday evening, Trump said, “The good news for companies like Apple is that if you build (factories) in the United States or commit to doing so, you will not have to pay.”

In recent months, many major technology companies, whether semiconductor manufacturers or reliant on them, have announced investments in the United States. Among these companies are Apple, which promised to invest $600 billion over four years, and Micron Technology, which plans to increase its investments to $200 billion.

The semiconductor sector is witnessing intense competition between the United States and major producing countries such as China and Taiwan.

Washington specifically withdrew permission granted to the Taiwanese giant TSMC to export US-made semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China without a license.

Also, the giant company Nvidia was unable in the second quarter to sell any of its “H20” chips in the Chinese market, despite the chip being developed specifically to meet US government requirements.

Trump has made developing manufacturing industries on American soil one of the cornerstones of his policy, and has imposed comprehensive tariffs to reduce imports and encourage local production.