TSMC suspends shipments to Chinese company after chips found on Huawei processors | Wilnesh News

British Semiconductor Huawei has suspended shipments to Chinese chip designer Sophgo after chips produced by the company were found on its artificial intelligence processors, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Sophgo has ordered chips from TSMC that match those on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, people familiar with the matter said. Huawei is restricted from purchasing the technology to protect U.S. national security. Reuters was unable to determine how the chip ended up on Huawei products.

Sophgo said in a statement on its website on Sunday that it complies with all laws and has never had any business relationship with Huawei. Sophgo, which is affiliated with cryptocurrency mining equipment company Bitmain, said it has provided TSMC with a detailed investigation report to prove that it has nothing to do with Huawei.

TSMC declined to comment. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Commerce Department said it was aware of reports of possible violations of U.S. export controls but could not comment on whether any investigations were underway.

Technology research firm TechInsights discovered the TSMC chip during a teardown of Huawei’s Ascend 910B multi-chip processor, another source told Reuters on Tuesday. After learning of the discovery, TSMC notified the United States about two weeks ago, the sources said.

Around the same time, TSMC also suspended shipments to customers, a Taiwanese official said, after discovering that chips it supplied to customers ended up in Huawei products, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The official said TSMC alerted Taiwanese and U.S. authorities and began a detailed investigation. However, the official did not disclose the name of the customer, and the latest source named the customer as Sophgo. Information technology news outlets also reported the name on Saturday.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, said earlier this week that it had stopped supplying Huawei since mid-September 2020 and was “actively communicating” with the U.S. Department of Commerce on the matter.

“We are not currently aware of any ongoing investigations at TSMC,” the company statement said.

Shenzhen-based Huawei said in a statement on Tuesday that it had not produced any chips through TSMC after the United States imposed new export rules on Huawei in 2020.

In 2020, the United States expanded its authority to ban the shipment to Huawei of foreign-produced products produced directly with U.S. technology or software, including TSMC chips.

Sources told Reuters earlier this year that TSMC previously supplied chips for Huawei’s Ascend series. Its Ascend 910B, released in 2022, is regarded as the most advanced AI chip by a Chinese company.

In August, Taiwan’s Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technologies (DSET) reported that Bitmain, China’s leading integrated circuit design company and cryptocurrency mining machine supplier, “aims to challenge the dominance of the artificial intelligence chip market.” NVIDIA and AMD”.

The DSET report describes Sophgo as an affiliate of Bitmain.

According to the company registration database, Sophgo was co-founded by Micree Zhan, who is also the co-founder of Bitmain.

The company also communicated with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in 2023 using a Bitmain email address and the name Xiamen Shuo Technology Co., Ltd.

A statement from the New Taipei Procuratorate said that in 2021, prosecutors raided Bitmain’s operations in Taiwan and accused two Bitmain subsidiaries of illegally recruiting Taiwanese semiconductor engineers and illegally conducting research and development activities.

The four Taiwanese defendants pleaded guilty and were fined, the statement said.

Sophgo’s website says the company has research and development centers in more than 10 cities in China and other countries.