According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the US has ordered Chipmaker TSMC to stop supplying Chinese customers with advanced chips that are frequently used in artificial intelligence applications starting on Monday ( Nov 11 ).
According to the person, the Department of Commerce notified TSMC that export restrictions apply to some highly developed, 7 nanometer or more advanced chips that power AI accelerators and graphics processing units ( GPU).
The second US buy comes just weeks after TSMC informed the Commerce Department that a Huawei AI processor had discovered one of its chips, according to a report from Reuters last month. Tech Insights, a technical analysis agency, discovered the TSMC chip and a patently violating export controls after the product was removed.
Huawei, the subject of the US activity, is listed on a restricted business list that requires suppliers to get permits before delivering any goods or technologies to the company. Huawei’s AI initiatives would probably not be granted any licenses that might be available.  ,
According to sources, TSMC halted shipment of Sophgo, a Chinese manufacturer, after its chip matched the one on the Huawei AI computer.  ,
The Ascend 910B, which Huawei’s Ascend is regarded as the most cutting-edge AI device made by a Chinese firm, was unrelated to the chip’s location.  ,
The US will be able to determine whether other firms are giving Huawei’s AI computer chips as a result of the most recent clampdown, which affects many more businesses.  ,
According to the people, TSMC made the announcement that it would be suspending chip shipments starting on Monday as a result of the email.  ,
The Commerce Department declined post.  ,
Taiwan’s business department said in a speech to Reuters,” TsMC has normal conversations with the government on trade control issues and has made it clear that it will follow domestic and international laws.”
A spokesperson for TSMC also declined to comment beyond saying it was a “law-abiding company …committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including applicable export controls” . ,
The Commerce Department’s conversation, known as an “is informed” letter, enables the US to rapidly impose new licensing requirements on certain businesses by avoiding lengthy rule-writing procedures.
Ijiwei, a media outlet in China covering the silicon sector, reported on Friday that TSMC informed Chinese chip designers that they would start suspending customers who use AI and GPUs at a millimeter or lower starting November 11.  ,
Republicans and Democrats have voiced concerns about China’s deficiency of export controls and the Commerce Department’s enforcement of them as a result of the legislation.  ,
The Commerce Department sent is-informed words to Nvidia and AMD enforcing restrictions on the trade of major AI-related cards to China, as well as to chip equipment manufacturers Lam Research, Applied Materials, and KLA, limiting their ability to export cutting-edge chips to China.
The limits in those letters afterwards became guidelines for businesses operating outside of them.
The US has n’t updated its regulations for tech exports to China. As Reuters reported in July, the Biden presidency drafted new guidelines on some unusual exports of chipmaking tools and planned to increase about 120 Taiwanese companies to the Commerce Department’s restricted object listing, including chipmaking factories, toolmakers, and related companies.
But despite strategies for an August release, and afterward preliminary specific times for publication, the laws still have not been issued.