After a 7-nanometer artificial intelligence ( AI ) chip it produced was discovered in a product of the heavily-sanctioned Huawei Technologies, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, was urged to improve its end-user checks.  ,  ,
Republican senator John Moolenaar, who is also the chairman of the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), called using TSMC-manufactured chips in Huawei’s AI startups a” catastrophic loss of export control plan.”
In a press release on Wednesday, Moolenaar stated that” AI startups, like the one these cards fueled, are at the forefront of our technology contest with the CCP, and I fear the harm done these will have major implications for our national safety.”  ,
He claimed that Congress needs to receive immediate responses regarding the scope and size of this disaster from both the Bureau of Industry and Security ( BIS ) of the US Commerce Department ( BIS ) and TSMC. He demanded that the US federal take immediate action to prevent this from occurring again.
On October 9, TechInsights, a Canada-based data platform for the semiconductor industry, published a document with the subject” Huawei Ascend 910B AI Trainer – Die Analysis”.
TechInsights reported that it purchased the Huawei Atlas 300T A2 AI education cards, which it believes has the Ascend 910B computer. The media described the Ascend 910B, a second-generation device launched in 2022 following the debut of the original Ascend 910 in 2019, as a 7nm chip produced by the Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp ( SMIC ).
According to a Reuters report on Wednesday, TechInsights had informed TSMC of the device evaluation prior to publishing its findings, citing an unnamed Chinese trade and economic established.  ,  ,
After discovering that its cards had been discovered in a Huawei goods, the official said TSMC launched an investigation and suspended its supplies to a client in the country in mid-October. The official described the incident as an “important notice event” within TSMC, refusing to publish the lawyer’s title.
According to the official, October 11 is the earliest the affair may be traced back to. The US Commerce Department and the Japanese government were finally informed that the delivery of the chip might indicate a potential infraction of US export restrictions against Huawei.  ,
The US Commerce Department opened an exploration into whether TSMC broke US trade regulations to produce chips for Huawei, according to The Info on October 18.  ,
The incidents ‘ timelines also matched what a Chinese technology columnist said on October 9 in an article titled” Hinduwei will achieve self-sufficiency after TSMC and Huawei split up.”
The journalist claimed that TSMC and Huawei have decided to break up because they will no longer produce chips for the latter, who will then have to produce the country’s 5G and Traverse chips internally.  ,
Ascend 910C
Past media reports revealed that Huawei and SMIC attempted to create Ascend 910B cards by themselves earlier this year, but they failed to produce acceptable results.
The Information revealed on June 25 that Huawei and SMIC encountered challenges in the production of the Ascend 910B as a result of an inadequate supply of chip-making equipment pieces. On June 27, The Chosun Daily in South Korea reported that the production of Ascend 910B is only about 20 %.  ,
Whether Huawei has now given up on this generation is a mystery. However, it appears that Huawei you rely solely on SMIC’s N 2 process to produce 7nm cards, including the upcoming Ascend 910C chips.
The South China Morning Post reported on September 30 that Huawei gave examples of the Ascend 910C to big Chinese client companies for equipment testing and design. It planned to immediately make 70, 000 products of this device, which aims to engage with Nvidia’s H100.
End-user balances
On the basis of national security, the US Commerce Department placed Huawei and its 70 members on its’Entity Record’ in May 2019. Due to diplomatic pressure from the US, the Dutch government in the same year imposed a ban on the exports of ASML’s extreme ultraviolet ( EUV) lithography machines to China.
On September 15, 2020, TSMC stopped producing Kirin cards, resulting in a timer for HiSilicon’s device products.
Reports in the media over the past few years claimed Huawei used SMIC’s N 2 process to create 7nm Kirin 9000S bits despite the company’s limited supply of high-end chips for its flagship phones.  ,
TechInsights even confirmed that SMIC made the Kirin 9000S chips used in Huawei’s Mate 60 phones next month.
Huawei’s Ascend 910 chips and Ascend 910B were previously reported in Chinese media, despite Huawei’s significant expansion of site production.  ,
Huawei announced on July 6 that it would increase the number of AI handling cards in each of its seven Chinese cities from 4 000 to 16 000.
At that time, some Taiwanese observers said TSMC was allowed to produce Ascend 910 for Huawei as the device used Huawei’s self-developed Da Vinci structures. However, these papers were taken down from China’s Internet.  ,
Other observers thought that all the Ascend 910B bits, with an expected source of 500, 000 products in 2024, were all made by SMIC. They may have to reevaluate their choices now that they are aware that Huawei’s goods contain TSMC-manufactured Ascend 910B cards.
On Wednesday, Huawei said it has not produced any bits via TSMC since 2020. Additionally, TSMC claimed to have not supplied Huawei since September 2020. The Chinese chipmaker claimed to not be aware that it was being investigated at this time about itself.  ,
The US Commerce Department’s director declined to comment on the status of any inquiries.  ,
Nazak Nikakhtar, an assistant secretary for industry and analysis at the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration ( ITA ) from 2018 to 2021, told Asia Times in an interview in June that he was aware that sanctioned entities could easily circumvent US sanctions by setting up layers of shell companies or holding only minority stakes in companies.
No matter whether the US is looking into TSMC or not, it will have to explain why it did n’t raise any red flags when a client from the mainland placed an order to make the Ascend 910B, which is comparable to the Ascend 910 on which i had already finished the design process.
taped out “in business language ) before 2019. TSMC had likewise taped-out and mass-produced another Huawei AI cards such as Ascend 310 and 990.
Read: Huawei bypasses US device limits with TSMC hole
Observe Jeff Pao on X:  , @jeffpao3