TSMC has identified another client who ordered the production of advanced chips for Huawei

At the end of October, information appeared that the Chinese company Sophgo could assist Huawei Technologies, which has been under US sanctions since 2019, in obtaining advanced TSMC chips produced for its needs, bypassing export restrictions. Currently, another company suspected of such activities has been discovered in Singapore.

This was reported by the South China Morning Post, citing its own sources. Taiwanese contract chip manufacturer TSMC, as noted in the publication, was forced to sever relations with the Singaporean company PowerAIR. An audit of TSMC’s interactions with the little-known Singaporean chip designer found that it may have violated US export controls. These discoveries were made by TSMC after launching an investigation in October last year related to the supply of accelerator chips to Huawei in circumvention of US sanctions.

TSMC itself has repeatedly denied any intentions to help Huawei and emphasized its readiness to follow US laws in the field of export control. Since 2020, Huawei has lost access to advanced technical processes performed by global contract manufacturers; it can only rely on the Chinese SMIC, which also found itself under US sanctions. Huawei has previously said it has not received any chips from TSMC since it was sanctioned in 2020. Last year, the Chinese Sophgo and the parent company Bitmain said that they had never had any ties with Huawei, and therefore considered the suspicions of TSMC and the American side to be groundless. Representatives of PowerAIR did not have time to comment on the situation at the time of preparation of the material for publication.