The Ascend 910B chip, released by TSMC under sanctions, was found in the Huawei AI accelerator

Huawei continues to use advanced TSMC chips in its AI products despite the US ban. TSMC denies supplies after 2020 to Chinese manufacturers. However, the discovery of an Ascend 910B chip made by TSMC in Huawei’s AI accelerator indicates otherwise, thereby jeopardizing the reputation of both companies.

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Canadian research firm TechInsights took apart one of Huawei’s newest artificial intelligence accelerators and found an Ascend 910B chip inside, manufactured by TSMC. Bloomberg reported this, citing a source familiar with the results of the study. The source wished to remain anonymous as the report has not yet been officially published.

Huawei has been on a sanctions list since 2020 and cannot do business with TSMC and other contract semiconductor manufacturers without a license from the US government. Last year, Huawei relied on its local partner SMIC to produce the 7nm chips used in one of Huawei’s smartphones. However, US representatives have repeatedly expressed doubts about SMIC’s ability to produce such chips on a large scale and, moreover, to show the required level of performance. The discovery of a TSMC chip in Huawei’s AI accelerator confirms this opinion. It remains unclear how and when Huawei received these chips, given that Taiwanese company TSMC announced that it would stop all supplies to the Chinese tech giant as of September 15, 2020.

«TSMC complies with the law and is committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including export controls. In accordance with regulatory requirements, TSMC has not supplied products to Huawei since mid-September 2020, the company said in a statement. “We have been in contact with the US Department of Commerce regarding this matter and are not aware of any investigations against us at this time.”

Huawei said it has not received chips from TSMC since 2020 following changes to US export rules known as the Foreign Direct Product Rule (FDPR). “Huawei has never released the 910B chip,” the company added.

A U.S. Commerce Department spokesman said the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which is responsible for overseeing trade in semiconductors, is “aware of reports of possible violations of U.S. export controls.” However, he refused to specify whether an investigation was underway.

Let us remember that before the Huawei 910B accelerator, its predecessor Huawei 910 was launched into production in 2019, that is, before the expansion of US sanctions against the Chinese company. Huawei then stocked up on TSMC chips, allowing it to use a 5nm chip (an earlier generation of 7nm) in a laptop released late last year. The 910B accelerator, according to the analytical center Center for Security and Emerging Technology (USA), was first noticed in server products in 2022. It began appearing in Chinese news publications in 2023, although there was no official launch from Huawei. Local company Iflytek unveiled a server with this AI accelerator in August 2023, and Baidu ordered more than 1,000 units of the 910B last year, according to research firm TrendForce.