Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules.
TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday.
The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
“TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including applicable export controls,” TSMC said in an e-mail yesterday.
The chipmaker’s move came as it faces mounting pressure from the US department to comply with its semiconductor restrictions, underscoring the escalation in the China-US technology war, the report said.
Last week, TSMC stopped 7-nanometer chip shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) AI chip.
The suspension of TSMC chips would deal a heavy blow to China’s AI and GPU designers and undermine their chip performance and competitive edge, the report said.
TSMC might gain greater business opportunities from the US by following the commerce department’s rules, it added.
Taiwan’s chip companies are warned to brace for stricter regulations after US president-elect Donald Trump won the election.
Trump last month accused Taiwan of “stealing” the US chip industry and threatened to levy tariffs on chips from Taiwan.
As TSMC is a major supplier of advanced chips to Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Intel Corp, any tariff hikes could inflate electronics prices and increase US inflation, it remains to be seen whether Trump would impose sweeping or selective tariffs, Macronix International Co (旺宏) chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) said on Thursday.
Macronix is the world’s biggest supplier of NOR flash memory chips.
To safeguard US advancements in AI technology, there is a likelihood that the US might request TSMC to produce all cutting-edge chips in the US, including the most advanced chips, given rising tension between Taiwan and China, Wu said.
Without adequate bargaining power, TSMC and the government might find it difficult to turn down the request, Wu added.
TSMC is to ramp up production of 4-nanometer chips at its first US fab in Arizona next month. The chipmaker plans to build two more advanced fabs in Arizona for the production of 2-nanometer and more advanced chips in the US.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS