The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility.
American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months.
“TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing will be revoked effective December 31, 2025,” the company said in a statement. “While we are evaluating the situation and taking appropriate measures, including communicating with the US government, we remain fully committed to ensuring the uninterrupted operation of TSMC Nanjing.”
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Washington’s move jeopardizes the China operations of some of the most important companies in the semiconductor sector, hailing from two chipmaking powerhouses that are also US allies. While US officials have said they intend to issue licenses needed to keep those facilities operational, the shift from blanket permission to individual approvals introduces uncertainty about wait times to actually secure those permits. Officials are currently working on solutions to ease the bureaucratic burden, particularly given a significant backlog of existing license requests, people familiar with the matter said.
Compared to Samsung and SK Hynix, which house a sizable share of their production in China, TSMC’s manufacturing footprint in the world’s second-largest economy is relatively small. The company’s Nanjing site began production in 2018 and contributed a small fraction of TSMC’s total revenue last year. The campus houses technology as advanced as 16-nanometer, which first became commercially available more than a decade ago.
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which oversees semiconductor export controls, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
BIS announced its VEU decision for the two South Korean companies last week, saying that the US was closing “export control loopholes” that put American companies “at a competitive disadvantage.”
The agency also formally rescinded Samsung and SK Hynix’s VEU status in the federal register, a public account of US regulations — and they did the same for a VEU designation given to Intel Corp, for a facility in Dalian, China, that SK Hynix has since acquired. That action will require US officials to process an additional 1,000 license requests annually, according to a federal notice.
Because TSMC’s VEU status was never published in the federal register in the first place, there was not a public regulation for BIS to amend in the same way as for the other affected companies. All told, though, the net effect on TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix is the same: When the VEU revocation takes effect, suppliers to the chipmakers’ China facilities will need to proactively seek US licenses for shipments of goods that are covered by US export controls. That includes everything from advanced manufacturing gear to spare parts and chemicals that are consumed in the production process.
The situation highlights the extent of Washington’s influence in, and control over, the supply chain for electronic components that power everything from microwaves to phones to data centers training artificial intelligence algorithms — even when the plants in question are operated by three non-American companies in a foreign country.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
CLOSER TO CHINA: The upgraded Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000km, compared with the original model’s range of 200km, and can reach mainland China Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp yesterday, as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles are to be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of this month, completing the process of deployment, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the
RSS