Huawei vs TSMC: U.S. begins investigation chapter on China’s chipset growth

U.S. has once again stepped up the investigation on China’s chipset growth and this time, TSMC is under suspicion alongside Huawei. The scrutiny is in full swing and here’s an overview of what has happened on this matter in the past few days.

China-U.S. chip war came to light when Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro last year with a Kirin 9000s 5G chip. Regardless of tough restrictions and challenges, the company managed to build a 5G chip for its smartphones with effective performance.

Pura 70 Ultra with Kirin 9010 and MateBook X Pro 2024’s Intel Core Ultra 9 added fuel to this chip war. As a result, the U.S. became more cautious about Huawei and China’s chipset progress. And TSMC investigation is a part of this “awareness”.

Part 1: Investigation begins

The story began last week when the U.S. suddenly started probing TSMC for if it was involved in any chip dealings with Huawei. Despite several explanations by TSMC, the U.S. didn’t find any satisfactory answers and continued its search.

If found in any dealings with Huawei, the Taiwanese firm may face punishments such as temporary restrictions on advanced chipmaking tools, fees, or more.

Although TSMC claimed that it hasn’t indulged in chipset relations with any Chinese firms including Huawei. It further said that as a law-abiding company, it will take prompt action to ensure compliance with the U.S. rules and regulations.

TSMC company (Image Credits: TSMC)

Part 2: Revelation

While the investigation was on, a research firm TechInsights revealed that one of Huawei’s AI chips has an important SoC made by TSMC. The chip is Ascend 910B which is said to use an advanced component supplied by the Taiwanese chip producer.

The discovery of this part in Huawei’s chip ultimately increased pressure on TSMC. It even informed the U.S. about this discovery immediately. It said that the company isn’t aware of this component and strongly follows all the regulations.

However, the U.S. authorities are probably seeing TSMC as a guilty firm in this case. One of the lawmakers from the U.S. – John Moolenaar stated:

“Reports that cutting-edge TSMC-manufactured chips have contributed to Huawei’s AI development represent a catastrophic failure of U.S. export control policy. Congress needs immediate answers from both Commerce and TSMC about the scope and volume of this disaster.”

Part 3: Cutting chip supply

Following the fierce investigation, TSMC has now stopped shipping its chipset to a specific client (suspected to be a supplier of Huawei). The chip producer is putting effort into proving its “no relationship with Huawei” statement.

Huawei on the other hand, said that it stopped taking any help from TSMC since 2019. Well, that means the company might have stockpiled these chips years back and is currently using them for its products. Although the matter requires more details for a clear view.

Huawei vs TSMC: U.S. begins investigation chapter on China’s chipset growth (Image Credits: Huawei)