The TSMC chips were supposed to be shipped to a specific customer but it landed elsewhere.
HUAWEI has no access to advanced microchips and must solely rely on what’s available in China. So, how in the world TSMC chips landed on its shore? That’s the latest development and will likely trigger Washington.
A quick recap. HUAWEi has been on the US sanctions list since 2020 and is restricted from doing business with TSMC and its chipmaker peers. That means no access to Qualcomm, MediaTek, and other similar companies. Thus, the reason why HUAWEI went full force on its Kirin processors.
According to reports, TSMC realized that its chipsets for a specific customer somehow ended up with HUAWEI. That said, the chipmaker stopped shipments for that customer and has notified US and Taiwanese governments about the incident.
How did that happen? No solid answers yet. Whether it’s some kind of circumvention is up to interpretation at this time.
This is not the first time TSMC’s processors were found in HUAWEI’s territory. Research firm TechInsights discovered that the latest HUAWEI AI servers featured TSMC chipsets.
A US Commerce Department spokesperson said that the agency is “aware of reporting alleging potential violations of US export controls.” Meanwhile, an official said that the earliest incident could be traced back to October 11.
What do you think happened?
