TSMC has responded to claims that the US Department of Commerce is looking into the company’s alleged dealings with Huawei by stating it is a law-abiding company.
Questions were raised after The Information reported an investigation was underway looking into whether TSMC has been making artificial intelligence (AI) or smartphone chips for the Chinese tech giant.
Citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter, the report claims the Department of Commerce reached out to TSMC in recent weeks, presumably to investigate the claims.
However, beyond the unnamed sources quoted by The Information, no other allegations of TSMC breaking US sanctions have emerged.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, the chip maker said: “If we have any reason to believe there are potential issues, we will take prompt action to ensure compliance, including conducting investigations and proactively communicating with relevant parties including customers and regulatory authorities as necessary.”
The US is currently engaged in a trade war with China and has imposed controls on the export of some types of chips to the country.
The US government claims this is to stop China from developing advanced AI systems and to prevent it from having access to technology that could be used for military modernization and human rights abuses however, former ASML CEO Peter Wennink argued earlier this year that the export restrictions are largely ideologically driven rather than based on facts
Huawei was banned from providing equipment to the US government under the Defense Authorization Act of 2018. A general import ban followed shortly thereafter, with former President Donald Trump signing a law in 2020 to prevent US rural telecom carriers from using Huawei network equipment.
In September 2023, the US government opened an investigation into Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) after it was first discovered the Huawei Mate Pro 60 contained Kirin 9000S chips; 7nm, 5G-enabled chips are produced in China by the partly state-owned SMIC.
As of March 2024, that investigation was still ongoing.
