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The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has responded to reports that it shipped artificial intelligence processors to Chinese technology giant Huawei. Huawei's Ascend processors have been the subject of a lot of debate, with one fresh report from Semi Analysis claiming that Huawei managed to acquire the processors from TSMC. The Taiwanese firm is prohibited by the US from shipping advanced chips to Huawei, and TSMC's statement asserts that it has not shipped any products to the Chinese company since September 2020. The US restricted sales to Huawei under the previous Trump Administration in May 2020, with a 120-day grace period allowing shipments until mid-September of that year.
TSMC Asserts It Is Communicating With US Government To Root Out Suspicious Orders
Chinese access to high-end AI chips came to the forefront of attention in January after startup DeepSeek's AI models managed to mimic their Western counterparts in performance. Multiple reports claimed that DeepSeek had access to NVIDIA's H20 AI GPUs, which are specialty variants made for China and have since been restricted for sale by the US government. Simultaneously, a report from the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) claimed that Huawei could produce more than half a million advanced Ascend AI chips.
Another report from Semi Analysis, which surfaced last week, was quite explicit as well. It outlined that the US government and chip analysis firm Tech Insights had acquired Huawei's Ascend chips and determined that they had indeed been manufactured by Huawei. For its part, the CSIS report mentioned that Huawei had acquired the dies used to make these chips ahead of the US sanctions on Huawei implying that TSMC did not violate any American restrictions.
The sanctions on Huawei were levied by the first Trump administration in May 2020. At the time, TSMC's leading-edge manufacturing technologies were the 7-nanometer and 7-nanometer+ nodes, which Huawei primarily used for its smartphone processors. They allowed a 120-day grace period, which enabled orders placed before May 15th to be shipped by September 14th.
In its statement issued after Semi Analysis's report, TSMC asserts that it is complying with all applicable laws for its products. The latest AI chips require 7-nanometer and advanced manufacturing processes such as 5-nanometer for their production. TSMC's latest technology right now is the 3-nanometer process which is used for low power chips such as smartphone processors.
According to TSMC, it stopped shipping orders to Huawei since September 2020. The firm adds that if it notices any suspicious orders, it will "take prompt action to ensure compliance," which includes conducting due diligence and informing relevant authorities. The firm also revealed that it has already communicated with the Commerce Department when it comes to suspicious orders and will continue to do so in the future.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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