Written by Karen Freifeld
(Reuters) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has notified the United States that one of its chips was found inside a Huawei product after technology research firm TechInsights disassembled it, a person familiar with the matter said. It has become clear that Huawei products may have violated export regulations. Chinese company.
According to another person familiar with the matter, the device that was disassembled was a Huawei Ascend 910B. The 910B is considered the most advanced AI chip offered by the Chinese company. The first source did not specify the item, but said the TSMC chip is a chip in a multi-chip system.
The person said TechInsights notified TSMC about the chip before publishing its findings in a report, prompting the Taiwanese company to notify the U.S. Department of Commerce several weeks ago.
The revelations could show how difficult export controls are to enforce, both for companies that make in-demand products and for regulators. At the same time, it also shows Huawei’s continued need for the most sophisticated chips.
TSMC said in a statement Monday that it has been actively communicating with the Department of Commerce regarding this issue. The company said it has not supplied chips to Huawei since mid-September 2020.
The company said, “At this time, we are not aware that TSMC is the subject of an investigation.''
Huawei was placed on the US trade restriction list in 2019 for national security reasons.
TechInsights said the report has not yet been published and declined to comment.
Shenzhen-based Huawei said in a statement that it has not produced chips through TSMC since the U.S. rules took effect in 2020.
It’s unclear how the chip got to Huawei. In 2019, the company released the Ascend 910 chip series. At the time, before export controls were put in place, the chip was being manufactured by TSMC, two sources told Reuters earlier this year.
The Information and Financial Times reported that the US is investigating TSMC and Huawei.
The Commerce Department said in a statement that it was “aware of reports of potential violations of U.S. export controls,” but could not comment on whether any investigations were underway.
A third source confirmed that TechInsights had disassembled a Huawei product and found what appeared to be a TSMC chip.
“We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system to monitor and ensure compliance,” TSMC said in a statement.
Taiwan’s government has its own strict rules to prevent the production of advanced chips in China, and has repeatedly said it will ensure Taiwanese tech companies follow U.S. rules.
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“We will communicate fully with the company,” Taiwan’s Economic Minister Guo Chi-hui told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday, without elaborating.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; additional reporting by Fannie Potkin in Singapore, Ben Blanchard in Taipei and David Kirton in Shenzhen, China; by Chris Saunders, Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel, David Gregorio and Richard Chan edit)
