The U.S. Department of Commerce has ordered TSMC to stop supplying advanced chips to Chinese customers. This order follows the discovery of a TSMC chip inside a Huawei processor, something which the Chinese company has been banned from for years.
Officials want to investigate if third-party companies are supplying banned chips to Huawei, which faces long-standing U.S. trade restrictions.
For years, the U.S. government has banned Huawei from purchasing advanced chips directly from TSMC. However, recent findings suggest a third-party supplier may have delivered TSMC-made chips to Huawei. By halting shipments, U.S. officials hope to prevent Huawei from indirectly accessing restricted technology.
These advanced chips often serve artificial intelligence applications, which the U.S. tightly controls. The U.S. also restricts AI-related chip exports from American companies like Nvidia to Chinese buyers. TSMC has informed affected clients that shipments will be paused starting Monday.
The U.S. government aims to stop companies from bypassing export controls and delivering sensitive technology to China. In a statement, TSMC confirmed its commitment to “complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including applicable export controls.”
This halt highlights increasing technology tensions between the U.S. and China. The U.S. sees AI and other high-tech fields as crucial to maintaining its competitive advantage. Consequently, it enforces strict measures to limit China’s access to these technologies.
The U.S. has targeted Huawei specifically, given its ties to the Chinese government and its prominence in 5G and AI technologies. This pause in shipments could slow Huawei’s advancements in these critical areas. With this move, the U.S. continues to safeguard its technology sector from perceived national security threats.
Source: Reuters
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