“The US’s long-term sanctions against China’s semiconductor sector have proven to be full of holes,” said Alisa Liu, a researcher and director of the Taiwan Economic Research Institute.
The discovery sparked a scramble to explain what happened. TSMC has stopped shipping to an unnamed customer after it was discovered that one of the chips it had supplied to the customer was embedded in a Huawei product, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The chipmaker also notified the U.S. government and Taiwanese authorities about the incident, which could be a violation of U.S. export regulations, Taiwan’s official media said.
TSMC logo outside a facility in Taichung, Taiwan, December 2, 2019. Photo: Shutterstock
TSMC said in an earlier statement that it has not supplied chips to Huawei since September 2020. Huawei said it is “no longer producing chips through TSMC after the implementation of the amendments made by the US Department of Commerce.” [foreign direct product rule] It targeted Huawei in 2020. ”
For now, there are more questions than answers. The duration, scale and scope of the suspected client’s cooperation with TSMC remains unclear. The customer’s relationship with Huawei and its relationship with Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers is also unclear. It is unclear whether the TSMC die discovered by TechInsights entered Huawei hardware through the same customer.
Whether Huawei had direct access to TSMC’s advanced foundry capabilities or through an indirect agency, this is a sign that strict U.S. semiconductor regulations targeted at China’s national champion are being violated. say analysts.
TechInsights’ findings have received little coverage in official Chinese media, although several social media accounts have translated and cited foreign media reports.
