[News] TSMC-Made Huawei Chips Raise U.S. Concerns; Reports Suggest Huawei Used Proxy to Place Orders

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The discovery of TSMC-manufactured chips in Huawei devices has sparked significant concern among U.S. lawmakers. John Moolenaar, Chairman of the U.S. Congressional Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a Republican Congressman, criticized the reports, calling it a “catastrophic failure” of U.S. export control policies. He urged both the U.S. Commerce Department and TSMC to promptly explain the affected parties and the scale of the incident.

In his statement, Moolenaar said, “Reports that cutting-edge TSMC-manufactured chips have contributed to Huawei’s AI development represent a catastrophic failure of U.S. export control policy. AI accelerators, like the one these chips powered, are at the forefront of our technological competition with the CCP, and I fear the damage here will have significant consequences for national security. Congress needs immediate answers from both BIS and TSMC regarding the scope and volume of this disaster. The U.S. government must take immediate steps to ensure this does not happen again.”

The controversy revolves around a Huawei chip produced by TSMC. Last week, a report by The Information revealed that the U.S. Commerce Department is investigating whether TSMC has been involved in manufacturing AI chips designed by Huawei, which have become popular with Chinese customers as alternatives to NVIDIA chips, now restricted due to U.S. export regulations.

Following the Information report, a teardown of Huawei’s Ascend 910B AI chip revealed that it was manufactured by TSMC using its 7-nanometer process. In response, Reuters reported on the 22nd that TSMC had notified Washington about a possible attempt by Huawei to bypass U.S. export controls.

TSMC reportedly informed the U.S. Commerce Department after receiving an order for a chip similar to Huawei’s Ascend 910B, a processor designed for training large language models, according to Financial Times. How this chip ended up in Huawei’s possession remains unclear.

Before U.S. sanctions were imposed, TSMC had produced an earlier version of the 910B chip, Financial Times notes.

In addition, Liberty Times reported, citing industry insiders, that a Chinese design company suspected of acting as a proxy for Huawei submitted an order to TSMC earlier this year for a 7-nanometer project, paying several hundred million dollars in full for wafer production.

(Photo credit: TSMC)