Despite higher tariffs, full U.S. production would increase production costs by 41-152 percent; partial U.S. reshoring by up to 67 percent

ARLINGTON, VA – October 6, 2026 – Today, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® releases new research highlighting projected costs and consumer impact of reshoring manufacturing for 10 popular technology products.

Building on CTA’s 2023 study of consumer supply chain resilience, CTA’s “Reshoring Consumer Technology: Costs, Constraints and the Path to Production,” produced in partnership with Kearney, quantifies the costs associated with shifting to domestic manufacturing for computer monitors, laptops, robotic vacuums, smart speakers, smartphones, smartwatches, televisions, video game consoles, wireless earbuds and wireless headphones. The study evaluates today’s baseline against two reshoring scenarios: (1) domestic manufacturing of both finished products and components and (2) manufacturing of finished goods with largely imported components.

Even at current tariff levels, the study finds making these products entirely in the U.S. would drive increased production costs, ranging from 41 percent for televisions to 152 percent for smartphones. While companies would be unlikely to pass the full cost increase to consumers, the study suggests Americans would see an average retail price increase of 27 to 55 percent for the 10 products in the study. Intermediate ‘Assemble in America’ pathways would narrow, but not eliminate, the increased costs for most categories.

“As policymakers across the political spectrum push for more U.S. manufacturing, this study provides new data on what it would cost to actually produce popular technology products in the United States, said Gary Shapiro, Executive Board Chair, Consumer Technology Association. “Technology products have helped to curb inflation for years, but CTA’s latest research shows domestic manufacturing requirements would come at a price, driving inflation and threatening to make these products less affordable for millions of Americans.”

The costs modeled in the Reshoring Consumer Technology report incorporate both the cost of manufacturing products and the cost to build sufficient domestic capacity at scale, including capital expenditure on infrastructure and facilities, energy and workforce.

Major Findings:

• Full U.S. production would raise manufacturing costs by 41-152 percent. This scenario assumes fully U.S.-sourced components and U.S.-based assembly.

  • Smartphones – 152 percent increase

  • Smartwatches – 97 percent increase

  • Laptops – 93 percent increase

  • Video game consoles – 58 percent

  • Robotic vacuums – 52 percent increase

  • Televisions – 41 percent increase

• Some costs would reach consumers via higher retail prices for products Americans love and rely on. (Assumes 25-50 percent cost passthrough)

  • Smartphones – 38-76 percent increase

  • Smartwatches – 24-49 percent increase

  • Laptops – 23-46 percent increase

  • Video game consoles – 14-29 percent increase

  • Robotic vacuums – 13-26 percent increase

  • Televisions – 10-21 percent increase

• U.S. assembly of finished goods would drive smaller increases in retail prices. This scenario assumes U.S.-based final assembly from largely non-U.S. parts.

  • Smartphones – 17-33 percent increase

  • Smartwatches – 7-14 percent increase

  • Laptops – 12-25 percent increase

  • Video game consoles – 7-15 percent increase

  • Robotic vacuums – 1-2 percent increase

  • Televisions – 2-3 percent increase

• Building U.S. domestic manufacturing capability is a large, slow undertaking. Full U.S. production would require between $185 and $230 billion in capital expenditure; 555,000 to 668,000 more full-time workers; and 19.1 to 19.5 billion additional kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, approximately the annual consumption of San Francisco.

• The assembly only scenario is substantially cheaper but does not remove non-U.S. dependency. Capital expenditure is in the $16 to $19 billion range. Final assembly would require 61,000 to 73,000 full-time workers and 1.4 to 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

• Full U.S. production of technology products is neither economically attractive nor readily feasible. Domestic final assembly is a more viable approach to expanding U.S. domestic manufacturing capacity, beginning with products where economics permit. Reducing or eliminating U.S. tariffs on component parts, particularly those produced by partners and allies, is the single measure most likely to make domestic assembly cost-effective.

Methodology

The cost models underlying this report are bottom-up, engineering-based “should cost” models, used in industrial practice to estimate what a product should cost to manufacture in a given location given its bill of materials, the manufacturing processes it requires, and local factor costs. They were developed by Kearney’s product cost engineering practice and draw on an underlying database of granular cost observations, spanning materials, purchased components, direct labor, utilities, and manufacturing overhead, across countries in scope. For each product category, the model uses bill of materials decomposition to break each product into its major component blocks; estimates manufacturing value-add; and adds freight and logistics costs. The tariff measures in effect as of September 2026 are then applied. Both scenarios in this report are measured against the cost of today’s baseline: imports of products, in category-specific proportions, from a mix of countries of origin.

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About Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®:

As North America’s largest technology trade association, CTA is the tech sector. Our members are the world’s leading innovators – from startups to global brands – helping support more than 17 million American jobs. CTA owns and produces CES® – the most powerful tech event in the world. Find us at CTA.tech. Follow us @CTAtech.

About Kearney

For 100 years, Kearney has been a leading management consulting firm and trusted partner to three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500 and governments around the world. With a presence across more than 40 countries, our people make us who we are. We work impact first, tackling your toughest challenges with original thinking and a commitment to making change happen together. By your side, we deliver—value, results, impact.