The US government’s decision to impose new restrictions on the sale of semiconductors and chipmaking equipment to Chinese companies could hurt Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), along with the Chinese foundries of South Korean chipmakers, information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a statement on Saturday.
The measures announced by the US on Friday include a ban on advanced computing chips, including those used in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, from being sold to China without a license. Production equipment is included in the ban.
That likely means Taiwan would be prohibited from selling semiconductor manufacturing equipment and advanced chips to Chinese companies, while sales to foreign companies operating in China would be reviewed on an individual basis.
Photo: AFP
The measures extend restrictions from standard semiconductors to memorychips, which could hurt Chinese and South Korean suppliers, TrendForce Center for Research Operations CEO Locke Chang (張小彪) said.
The companies making chips in China that could be most affected are Chinese chipmakers Yangtze Memory Technology Corp (YMTC, 長江存儲) and ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc (CXMT, 合肥長鑫存儲), and South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, Chang said.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), China’s largest chipmaker, could see next year’s sales grow 50 percent slower than forecast, as the latest export curbs hamper its capacity buildup, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Charles Shum (沈明) said in a note yesterday.
About 48 percent of SMIC capacity to be installed by next year requires gear from US tool makers such as Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc, he said.
Because the restrictions cover chip sales by companies using US technologies, the sales of TSMC’s advanced chips from its Taiwan fabs to Chinese clients could also be curtailed, TrendForce said.
TSMC’s fabs in China and most of China’s homegrown chipmakers use 28-nanometer processes or above, which means many of the advanced chips that are under the restrictions come from outside China.
Chips used in high-performance computing by US and Chinese design houses are mostly made by TSMC using 7nm and 5nm processes, and the curbs could reduce orders to TSMC for those chips, TrendForce said without providing a precise estimate.
TSMC declined to comment on the curbs, saying it was focused on its quarterly earnings conference on Thursday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) on Sunday said the ban would have a limited effect on Taiwanese suppliers, as they seldom receive orders from China for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing chips.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS