Foreign media: TSMC is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce and plans to stop supplying chips to AI companies affiliated with Bitmain
ChainCatcher news, according to The Information, the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an investigation into TSMC earlier this month to confirm whether it provided chips to Huawei. Subsequently, TSMC stopped supplying chips to the AI company Sophgo, which is affiliated with Bitmain.
According to two informed sources, TSMC has cut off chip supplies to the relevant companies. Since 2020, Huawei has been banned from purchasing chips made with U.S. technology, including those produced by TSMC. TSMC stated that it uses U.S. technology in its chip manufacturing process and will comply with U.S. laws.
Earlier reports indicated that semiconductor research firm TechInsights claimed that after dismantling Huawei's current high-end AI accelerator chip Ascend 910B, it found that this chip might have been manufactured by TSMC, which also suggests that TSMC may have violated U.S. export controls.