US orders TSMC to stop shipping AI chips to China: source | Wilnesh News

The United States ordered British Semiconductor Starting on Monday, it will stop shipping advanced chips often used in artificial intelligence applications to Chinese customers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Commerce Department sent a letter to TSMC imposing export restrictions on certain cutting-edge chips of 7 nanometer or more advanced designs shipped to China to power artificial intelligence accelerators and graphics processing units (GPUs), the person said.

The U.S. order was first reported just weeks after TSMC notified the U.S. Commerce Department that its chips were found in Huawei’s artificial intelligence processors, Reuters reported last month.

Tech Insights, a technology research firm, took apart the product and found that it uses TSMC chips and clearly violates export controls. Huawei, at the center of the U.S. operation, is placed on a restricted trade list that requires suppliers to obtain licenses to ship any goods or technology to the company. Any license that facilitates Huawei’s artificial intelligence work may be denied.

Sources told Reuters last month that TSMC suspended shipments to Chinese chip designer Sophgo because its chips matched those found on Huawei’s artificial intelligence processors.

Reuters was unable to determine how the chip ended up on Huawei’s 2022 release of the Ascend 910B, which is considered the most advanced artificial intelligence chip offered by the Chinese company.

The latest crackdown hits more companies and will allow the United States to evaluate whether other companies transfer chips to Huawei for use in its artificial intelligence processors. Affected by the letter, TSMC notified affected customers to suspend chip shipments starting Monday, the person said.

The U.S. Commerce Department declined to comment.

A TSMC spokesperson also declined to comment, saying only that it is a “law-abiding company…committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including applicable export controls.”

The Commerce Department’s communication — known as a “knowledge” letter — allows the U.S. to quickly impose new licensing requirements on specific companies, bypassing the lengthy rulemaking process.

Chinese semiconductor industry media website “Jiwei” reported on Friday that TSMC notified Chinese chip design companies that it will suspend the supply of 7nm or below chips to AI and GPU customers from November 11.

The action comes as both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about China’s export controls and the Commerce Department’s lack of enforcement. In 2022, the Ministry of Commerce will NVIDIA and AMD Limit their ability to export top-level artificial intelligence-related chips to China, and limit the tools of chip equipment manufacturers such as Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA to manufacture advanced chips in China.

The restrictions in these letters later became rules that applied to companies outside of those restrictions.

The United States has delayed updating its technology export rules to China. According to a Reuters report in July, the Biden administration has drafted new regulations on the export of some chip manufacturing equipment and plans to add about 120 Chinese companies to the Department of Commerce’s restricted entity list, including chip manufacturing plants, tool manufacturers and related companies.

But despite a planned release in August and a tentative release target date, the rules have yet to be released.