- The US government imposed an embargo on Huawei in 2019 on suspicion of espionage
- Sharing advanced technology with Huawei is prohibited
- TSMC was suspected of circumventing this ban
The United States Department of Commerce is investigating TSMC for suspected cooperation with Huawei. Investigators are looking into whether “TSMC directly or indirectly supplied Huawei with smartphone chips and artificial intelligence despite the embargo.”
The embargo was imposed on Huawei in May 2019 by the administration of President Trump due to suspected of collaboration with the Chinese government and of espionage. In 2020, the US government banned Huawei from buying chips made using American equipment due to national security concerns. In addition, the same ban prevents Huawei from purchasing chipset manufacturing equipment. This further limits its possibilities to obtain modern chips for its products.
The new investigation focuses on the Kirin 9000 in the Mate 60 series, as well as Huawei’s new Ascend AI processor, which contains components that should not be available to Huawei under ongoing bans. Huawei has claimed that all of its new chips come from China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). However, information has emerged that another chip, the Kirin 9006C, used in the Huawei Qingyan L450 notebook was actually manufactured by TSMC.
TSMC responded to the Commerce Department’s ongoing investigation with an official statement, saying it is a law-abiding company and will “take immediate steps to ensure compliance, including conducting investigations and proactively communicating with relevant parties, including customers and regulators, as necessary.”
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Source: gsmarena
Source: www.svetandroida.cz
