HS Codes for Electronics and Tech Equipment: The 2026 Field Guide
The same GPU can cost three different amounts to import, and nothing about the chip changes. Shipped as a bare component, it enters under one code, duty-free in most major markets. Mounted on a module and presented as a processing unit, it moves to a code that in the US can now carry a 25 […]
HS Code for Medical Devices: 9018 Explained, Subheadings, Duty, and Regulatory Approval
The HS code for medical devices is heading 9018, covering instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental, and veterinary sciences. But for medical devices, the code is rarely what stops the shipment. The real barrier is regulatory: a device can be correctly classified and low-duty and still be refused at the border for lacking […]
HS Code for Solar Panels and Inverters: 8541 and 8504 Explained, Duty, and Trade Tariffs
The HS code for solar panels is heading 8541, and the inverters that pair with them sit under 8504. The classification is usually simple. What makes solar hard to cost is that the base duty is often zero, yet solar cells and modules are among the most heavily trade-taxed goods anywhere, carrying anti-dumping, countervailing, and […]
HS Code for Lithium Batteries: 8507 Explained, Subheadings, Duty, and Dangerous Goods Rules
The HS code for lithium batteries is heading 8507, electric accumulators, with lithium-ion under 8507.60. The classification is usually the easy part. What catches importers is that lithium batteries are dangerous goods, so the same shipment also needs UN 38.3 test certification, Class 9 labelling, and compliant packaging, and any one missing stops the goods […]
HS Code for Routers and Switches: 8517 Explained, Subheadings, Duty, and Type Approval
The HS code for routers, switches, and most network equipment is heading 8517, apparatus for transmitting or receiving voice, images, or data over a network. The classification is usually the easy part. The real constraint is that much of this equipment must clear type approval from the destination country’s telecom regulator before it can be […]
HS Code for GPUs and Semiconductor Chips: 8542 Explained, Subheadings, Duty, and 2026 Controls
The HS code for GPUs and other semiconductor chips is heading 8542, electronic integrated circuits, with discrete GPUs, CPUs, and AI accelerators under 8542.31. But mount that chip into a module, a card, or a server, and the classification can shift out of 8542 entirely, and in 2026 that shift is where the duty and […]
HS Code for Servers: Heading 8471 Explained, Subheadings, Duty, and the 2026 Tariff Trap
The HS code for servers is heading 8471, automatic data processing machines and their units. For years that was the whole answer, because 8471 goods entered most major markets duty-free. In 2026 the subheading within 8471 can decide whether a server enters at zero or attracts a 25 percent US surcharge, so precise classification is […]
AI Server Import Duties in 2026: What Data Centre Operators Actually Pay
There is a dangerous half-truth circulating in data centre procurement: that AI servers are duty-free. It is half right, and the other half is what blows up budgets. The base customs duty on a server is, in many markets, genuinely zero, because computers fall under an international agreement that eliminates the tariff. But in 2026 […]
AI Server Trade Flows 2026: Where They Are Made, Who Exports, and Who Imports
The defining infrastructure story of 2026 is the construction of artificial intelligence at industrial scale, and it has a geography almost no one maps. Every AI data centre announced this year, in Texas, Abu Dhabi, Visakhapatnam, or Riyadh, depends on a physical object: an AI server packed with accelerators, memory, and networking that has to […]
IT Hardware Trade Compliance: Real Answers to the Data Centre Import Questions Buyers Ask in 2026
Importing IT hardware looks simple until the first shipment is held. Servers, switches, storage arrays, and the gear a data centre runs on are high-value, often export-controlled, and almost always on a deadline, which is exactly why the rules trip importers up. This guide answers the questions IT and data centre buyers actually search for, […]