Huawei's relationship with the US government has been troubled for years, with trade restrictions imposed on the company starting in 2019. One of the most impactful bans came in 2020 when the US Commerce Department restricted Huawei from purchasing chips manufactured using American equipment. As a result, TSMC was questioned by the US regarding its involvement with Huawei, which the Taiwanese company denied at the time. However, a recent report reveals that Huawei has been using TSMC's chips despite these sanctions.
A Canadian research firm, TechInsights, discovered a TSMC-made chip inside Huawei’s Ascend 910B artificial intelligence accelerator during a teardown. This finding suggests that Huawei may be violating US export restrictions. TSMC, upon learning of the findings, notified the US Commerce Department and confirmed it had spoken with both its customer and the government about the issue.
TSMC previously denied any relationship with Huawei following the US restrictions in 2020 and stated that it had not made chips for the company since mid-September of that year. Huawei, for its part, denied ever launching the Ascend 910B chip. This incident follows other reports of Huawei’s attempts to circumvent US restrictions, including secret funding of research in the US at institutions like Harvard.
