Just northwest of Copenhagen, a cluster of small towns surrounded by trees and lakes is home to three of the world’s biggest hearing-aid manufacturers. The area’s outsized control of the market, which has helped Denmark earn the moniker "Silicon Valley of Sound,” seems set to endure after devices for chronic disabilities were among the rare segments to escape the burn of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
An ecosystem developed over more than a century has given the three Danish companies Demant, GN Store Nord and WS Audiology — together with their Swiss rival Sonova Holding — a quasi-monopoly on the market for devices that help people hear better. This small yet sensitive medical-care segment was shielded from tariffs during Trump’s first term and spared again from the barrage of levies he unleashed last month.
"At this point in time, we are exempt from tariffs and we do assume in our planning that we will continue to be that,” Peter Karlstromer, CEO of GN Store Nord, said on an earnings call on May 1.
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