The world’s three largest manufacturers of Bitcoin mining devices, Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT, have begun setting up production facilities in the United States.
Chinese Bitcoin Mining Giants Begin Production in the US: Strategic Move Against Tax Walls
This move stands out as a defensive strategy against the high tariffs imposed on China by former US President Donald Trump as part of the trade war.
The three companies together produce more than 90% of global bitcoin mining equipment. While moving to the U.S. could shield them from additional tariffs, it could also trigger U.S. security concerns over China over issues such as chip production and energy security.
Bitmain began production in the US in December, a month after Trump’s election victory, while Canaan announced that it had begun trial production in the US, taking the step following Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announced on April 2.
MicroBT said in a statement that it was “actively implementing its localization strategy” in the US and aimed to avoid the impact of tariffs.
Describing these developments as “not a superficial but a structural supply chain transformation,” Conflux Network CTO Guang Yang said that U.S. companies have adopted this move as a strategy not only to avoid tariffs but also to “move toward politically acceptable hardware sources.”
While more than 30% of global Bitcoin mining is done in North America, more than 90% of the hardware still comes from China.
That imbalance has particularly spurred action from firms such as U.S. rival Auradine, whose chief strategy officer, Sanjay Gupta, has argued that having hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made mining rigs connected to the U.S. power grid poses a national security risk.
Even though China banned cryptocurrency activities in 2021, companies like Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT maintained their leadership in the industry thanks to their credentials as hardware manufacturers. Their first-mover advantage, especially in developing high-performance, mining-specific chips, put them ahead of Western competitors.
Canaan moved its headquarters to Singapore and set up a trial production line in the US. The US market accounts for 40% of the company’s revenue. “Our goal is to reduce costs for both us and our customers,” said Vice President Leo Wang.
Trump’s promise to be a “crypto president” and his son Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin initiative, which he founded with Hut 8, show that the US attaches strategic importance to bitcoin. But this interest also makes China’s dominance in infrastructure more visible.
Major US-based mining companies MARA, Core Scientific, CleanSpark and Riot Platforms have highlighted the potential risks of over-reliance on Chinese hardware.
Experts state that imports of Chinese-made devices will continue in the short term, but the US wants to transform the mining ecosystem by pushing for localization of these productions.
“This is not an industry coup; it is the beginning of a long-overdue change,” says economist Ryan M. Yonk.
*This is not investment advice.
