The paradox? Higher costs are likely to reinforce AI’s perceived value.

“Scarcity always fuels demand,” said Snyder. “The irony here is by making interest infrastructure more expensive, tariffs validate the value of AI. If companies are willing to pay more to access compute and GPU, it means that AI is essential, not optional.”

AI goes local

The virtue of buying American-made goods may drive Trump’s trade wars—but in AI, it’s accelerating a shift toward sovereignty where governments and platforms are likely to double down on regional models and data localization.

For global brands, this changes everything—from data compliance to creative deployment. AI won’t scale across borders as smoothly as it used to, which means marketing teams must start thinking—and investing—regionally, according to Snyder.

“The ability for brands to own and control their own models is a pertinent thing coming out from this,” Cowling added.

Delay in AI advancement

Many of the companies leading the AI race are also major players in hardware: think Meta’s smart glasses and Apple’s on-device AI. Persistent tariffs on essential infrastructure components will only increase the cost of building this infrastructure, putting further strain on already thin AI margins.

“Simply put, scaling up AI is about to get even more expensive and harder to justify,” said Jacob Bourne, analyst, connectivity & tech briefings, Emarketer.

While AI companies were reducing costs and improving efficiency, tariffs threaten to undo those advances.

“That’s going to hinder AI advancement broadly,” Bourne added.