Shadow of US Tariffs Hard to Prevent Pursuing High Return Enthusiasm for AI

Las Vegas Google CLOUD NEXT Live – Despite concerns about rising costs caused by tariff policies, business decision-makers say that the astonishing return on investment (ROI) brought by AI still makes it difficult to resist. At the media roundtable meeting, when directly asked whether tariffs and economic uncertainty would change its AI strategy, Verizon、 Executives from Wal Mart, Papa Johns and Intuit all said they would not slow down AI deployment.

Ashok Srivastava, Senior Vice President and Chief Data Officer of Intuit, frankly stated, “We are in an uncertain era… but we have a very clear strategic direction. The goal of improving the financial lives of consumers and businesses through AI and data will not change. In fact, we are doubling our investment.” Kevin Vasconi, Chief Technology and Digital Officer of Big John, emphasized that its annual budget process includes strict ROI evaluations for each project. “Currently, the return on investment of AI projects far exceeds that of other types of projects, and we have no reason to slow down. Instead, we should step up the accelerator.
Matt Renner, Global Revenue President of Google Cloud, observed that companies continue to be enthusiastic about investing in AI, but the proof of concept (PoC) stage focuses more on quality rather than quantity, and “customers are becoming more cautious in their choice of PoC”.

Cost concerns emerge

This statement comes at a time when the unpredictable tariff policies of the United States are putting pressure on businesses. As previously reported by Fierce, tariffs may lead to a significant increase in the cost of AI underlying infrastructure (chips and servers). This uncertainty even affects Google’s new Ironwood TPU chip released this week. Although some semiconductors were initially exempted from tariffs, former President Trump proposed a comprehensive 25% tariff on chips.
Google Cloud refused to disclose the contract manufacturers of Ironwood and other chips, but Moor Insights and Strategy analyst Matt Kimball believes that they are produced by TSMC and there are “reasonable concerns from a cost perspective”. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian assured clients in an interview that “we are confident in addressing the challenges and have developed long-term contingency plans.
David Glick, senior vice president of enterprise business of Wal Mart, said frankly that while promoting AI, he was always alert to the impact of cost: “Low price is our core strategy, and we will never raise prices due to technology or AI investment.” Although the details of chips and infrastructure used were not disclosed, this statement reflected the rational balance that enterprises maintained in the AI craze.