TSMC ceased shipments to the client in mid-October after discovering that its chips were being utilized in Huawei products. The company has informed both the US and Taiwanese governments about this situation and is conducting further investigations, according to sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity due to its sensitive nature.
A prior report from Canadian research firm TechInsights indicated that TSMC chips were found in a Huawei AI accelerator, which constitutes a violation of US sanctions. This raised questions about how Huawei acquired these chips, with the involvement of a third-party company being a likely scenario.
In 2020, the US Commerce Department imposed trade restrictions on Huawei, preventing the company from sourcing chips from foreign manufacturers. Earlier this year, the US government intensified these restrictions by revoking licenses for Intel and Qualcomm to manufacture chips for Huawei devices.
In a statement to the Commerce Department, TSMC asserted that it has not engaged in any business dealings with Huawei since mid-September 2020. TSMC also informed Bloomberg that it has not produced any chips for Huawei due to the updated restrictions. Huawei, in a statement released yesterday, claimed that it has not utilized any TSMC-sourced chips since the implementation of the 2020 restrictions.
Instead of relying on TSMC, Huawei is reportedly sourcing chips from a local partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) in China, including a 7-nanometer processor for its smartphones. However, US officials have expressed skepticism regarding SMIC's capability to manufacture such chips at a scale sufficient to satisfy market demand.