Chips made by TSMC for a client are found mysteriously in Huawei devices
We recently told you that TSMC is being investigated by the U.S. Commerce Department for allegedly violating sanctions placed on foundries that use American technology to produce chips. These chip manufacturers, including TSMC, are banned from shipping cutting-edge chips to Huawei. The latter is considered a threat to U.S. national security and this export rule change was enacted in 2020.
The ban did its job at first as it forced Huawei to use 4G application processors for its flagship phones such as the P50, Mate 50, and P60. But China's largest foundry (and the third-largest foundry in the world) SMIC was able to produce the Kirin 9000s using its two-generation old 7nm node for the 2023 Mate 60 series. This was the first Huawei flagship to sport a homegrown SoC since 2020's Mate 40 line. More concerning to U.S. lawmakers was the chipset's ability to support 5G.
"We proactively communicated with the US Commerce Department regarding the matter in the report. We are not aware of TSMC being the subject of any investigation at this time."-TSMC
According to Bloomberg, TSMC halted shipments to a client starting in the middle of October after discovering that the chips it had produced for the client ended up in Huawei products. That was a situation recently cited by sources of The Information that claimed intermediaries were buying chips from TSMC and selling them to Huawei. For its part, Huawei says that it hasn't had any of its chips produced by TSMC since the sanctions started in 2020.
Last year's Mate 60 series was powered by a Huawei-designed and SMIC-produced 5G chip. | Image credit-Huawe
Republican Congressman John Moolenaar said, "Reports that cutting-edge TSMC-manufactured chips have contributed to Huawei’s AI development represent a catastrophic failure of US export control policy."
Moolenaar went on to say, "AI accelerators, like the one that these chips fueled, are at the forefront of our technology race with the CCP, and I fear the damage done here will have significant consequences for our national security. Congress needs immediate answers from both BIS and TSMC about the scope and volume of this disaster. The US government must take immediate steps to ensure this does not happen again."
TSMC is the largest chip foundry in the world followed by Samsung Foundry with the aforementioned SMIC in third. Apple is TSMC's largest customer as it is responsible for all of Apple's chips including the A-series and M-series processors. At one time, prior to the imposition of the new export rules, Huawei was TSMC's second largest client.
TSMC has notified the U.S. and Taiwanese governments and is running its own investigation. It's also not clear whether TSMC's client sent the chips to Huawei per the Chinese manufacturer's request.
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