TSMC Responds to Reports of Shipping Advanced AI Chips to Huawei in China

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The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has recently issued a statement in response to claims that it supplied artificial intelligence processors to Huawei, the prominent Chinese technology firm. Reportedly, Huawei’s Ascend processors have sparked considerable debate, particularly in light of a new analysis from Semi Analysis, which suggests that Huawei successfully obtained these processors from TSMC. However, TSMC emphasizes that it has not shipped any products to Huawei since September 2020, following US restrictions that prohibit the export of advanced chips to the Chinese tech giant.

TSMC Engaging with US Authorities Regarding Order Verifications

The issue of Chinese access to advanced AI chips gained traction in January when the startup DeepSeek demonstrated AI models that rivaled Western performance standards. Reports emerged indicating that DeepSeek had access to specialized versions of NVIDIA’s H20 AI GPUs, which are designed for the Chinese market but have been restricted by US regulations. Concurrently, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) revealed that Huawei has the potential to manufacture over 500, 000 advanced Ascend AI chips.

In a revealing report released last week, Semi Analysis detailed that both the US government and Tech Insights, a chip analysis firm, had obtained Huawei’s Ascend chips and confirmed that these chips were indeed produced by Huawei. Additionally, the CSIS research pointed out that Huawei had procured the dies necessary for these chips prior to the implementation of US sanctions, suggesting that TSMC has not breached American trade restrictions.

The sanctions against Huawei were initiated by the Trump administration in May 2020. At that time, TSMC was at the forefront of advanced manufacturing technology, utilizing 7-nanometer and 7-nanometer+ nodes, primarily for Huawei’s smartphone processors. Importantly, the sanctions included a 120-day grace period for orders placed prior to May 15, allowing shipments until September 14 of that year.

In its recent statement following the Semi Analysis findings, TSMC affirmed its adherence to all applicable regulations regarding its products. The company pointed out that the production of the latest AI chips involves cutting-edge manufacturing processes such as 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer technologies. TSMC’s most recent advancement is the 3-nanometer process, optimized for low-power applications, such as smartphone processors.

TSMC reiterated that it ceased all shipments to Huawei as of September 2020. The company committed to monitoring any suspicious orders closely and pledged to “take prompt action to ensure compliance” through diligent investigation and coordination with relevant authorities. TSMC has already engaged with the US Commerce Department regarding potential suspicious transactions and plans to maintain this communication moving forward.

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