The world’s leading bitcoin mining rig manufacturers are moving to build facilities in the U.S. to sidestep tariffs imposed by President Trump.
According to Reuters, the three Chinese giants dominating global ASIC device production — Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT — have launched a strategic shift toward the United States, driven by steep tariffs enforced by the Trump administration.
The move is a direct response to American protectionist policies. Trump introduced 30% tariffs on Chinese tech products, heavily impacting a sector where China controls over 90% of global mining hardware production.
Bitmain led the way, starting device assembly on U.S. soil last December, just weeks after Trump’s election victory. Canaan quickly followed, launching a pilot production line in the U.S. to bypass the heavy import taxes.
Leo Wang, Canaan’s VP of Business Development, called the American project “exploratory,” highlighting the unpredictability of current trade policies. MicroBT, the world’s third-largest player, announced it was actively rolling out a U.S.-based “localization strategy.”
Guang Yang, Chief Technology Officer of Conflux Network, noted that “the U.S.-China trade war is triggering structural, not superficial, changes in Bitcoin’s supply chains.”
For American firms, this shift represents “a strategic pivot toward ‘politically acceptable’ hardware sources,” Yang added. The near-monopoly of the three Chinese mining giants — which, according to Frost & Sullivan, accounted for 95.4% of the global hashrate sold in 2023 — has raised national security concerns in the U.S.
Sanjay Gupta, Chief Strategy Officer at Auradine, pointed out the imbalance:
“While over 30% of global bitcoin mining occurs in North America, more than 90% of mining hardware originates from China representing a major imbalance of geographic demand and supply.”
