China’s Sophgo denies ties with Huawei as TSMC blocks chip supply

TSMC has recently halted its chip supply for a Chinese company – Sophgo, as it is suspected to have ties with Huawei. Although the company released a statement, denying all these allegations. The chip battle is turning more fierce day by day.

Sophgo is a computing power service provider in China. It affiliates with Bitmain Tech and focuses on developing AI chips and products such as the RISC-V CPU.

TechInsights reported that a TSMC-made chip resides in Huawei Ascend 910B. Hereafter, the Taiwanese chipmaker blocked its chip shipment for one of the suspected Chinese firms. It looks like Sophogo is that particular firm.

Inputs reveal that Sophgo had ordered a certain amount of chips from the Taiwanese chip producer which seemed identical to Huawei Ascend 910B.

As a result, TSMC blocked chip supply for Sophgo as it suspected it to be a prime supplier of Huawei. But the AI firm denied such blame, saying that it has no ties with the Kirin chipset maker. The company even released a statement on its website:

“SOPHGO has been conducting business in strict compliance with applicable laws and regulations… and has never violated any of such laws and regulations. SOPHGO has never been engaged in any direct or indirect business relationship with Huawei.”

China’s Sophgo denies ties with Huawei as TSMC blocks chip supply (Image Credits: Sophgo)

TSMC vs Huawei

TSMC investigation stepped up after one of its important SoCs was found in the Huawei Ascend 910B. Both firms deny having any links with each other.

However, the U.S. authorities are seeing this incident as a major threat to their national security. Some foreign lawmakers even demanded answers and solutions to this happening at the earliest. Or else, it may become a huge problem for TSMC.

U.S. investigation circulates on whether TSMC has supplied its chips to China by any means. Although the probe didn’t find any significant revelations so far.

The search for loopholes in the US trade export controls and the secret behind China’s chip progress is in full swing. We may hit more details on this matter in the upcoming days.

(source)