According to a person familiar with the issue, the chip was found after the research firm TechInsights disassembled the product, and this might reveal a violation of the export restrictions.
The product in question is Huawei Ascend 910B which is currently viewed as the most powerful and advanced Huawei chip powered by artificial intelligence that is made by a Chinese-based company. According to the first source, the TSMC AI chip was part of a multi-chip system.
Also, the research firm TechInsights tried to inform TSMC about this chip situation, before making the report public, where they suggested the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company inform ahead of the U.S. Department of Commerce about Huawei’s AI chips.
This revelation highlights the challenges that both regulators and companies are facing in enforcing export controls. It also underlines Huawei’s constant demand for innovative AI chips.
As a response, TSMC made a statement this Monday where they confirmed that they have gotten in touch multiple times with the Commerce Department about this matter. Also, they made a declaration that stated the fact that TSMC has not delivered chips and has not performed chip manufacture for Huawei in the last 4 years.
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"We are not aware of TSMC being the subject of any investigation at this time,", TSMC stated.
It’s important to mention that Huawei was included in the U.S. restriction of trade list in 2019 due to national security concerns.
Regarding this matter, the research firm TechInsights has refused to make any comment on the allegations. Currently, the report in question has not been published yet.
Also, related to the TSMC statement, Huawei declared that they have not produced any AI chips based on the TSMC technology after the U.S. implementation of rules back in 2020. So, is currently uncertain how the AI chip managed to work its way towards Huawei company and products.
Several news providers, including The Information and Financial Times, have declared that the U.S. Department of Commerce is now investigating the matter between TSMC and Huawei.
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