TSMC has terminated its dealings with Singapore’s PowerAIR following a client audit that brought up possible breaches of U.S. export regulations, according to the South China Morning Post, which referenced sources knowledgeable about the situation. TSMC decided to end the partnership because it could not confirm the final recipient of the chips ordered by PowerAIR, suspecting connections to Huawei, which has been subject to a U.S. tech embargo since 2020.
The decision by TSMC came after the identification of a TSMC-produced chiplet in a Huawei Ascend 910 AI processor assembled recently. This chiplet was purchased by Sophgo, a company just as obscure as PowerAIR. Incorporated in September 2023, PowerAIR operates as a private firm specializing in engineering design and consultancy. It has no official online footprint or listed contact information, as reported by SCMP. The suspicion arose when TSMC spotted a potential connection between PowerAIR’s chip designs and those used by Huawei.
This incident isn’t the first time an unknown brand has been linked to providing high-end tech to the sanctioned Huawei, assisting in China’s economic and thereby military advancements. Currently, it remains unclear whether this involves the second or third high-end processor intended for Huawei and purportedly produced by TSMC.
Given that PowerAIR is a relatively obscure company with potentially limited engineering resources and no publicly acknowledged contracts with major tech firms or IP design houses, TSMC had substantial grounds for suspicion. This suspicion led TSMC to associate PowerAIR with Huawei, compelling them to terminate their contract. According to the reports, TSMC proceeded to do exactly that.
Since September 2020, Huawei has faced legal restrictions preventing it from buying chips made with U.S. technology, which includes almost all semiconductor components. To bypass these restrictions, Huawei is reported to have used intermediaries like Sophgo, an affiliate of Bitmain, to procure Huawei-designed Virtuvian computing chiplets for its Ascend 910 processor in 2024, thereby breaching U.S. sanctions. This breach was exposed by TechInsights during a teardown of the Ascend 910 processor. After verifying the connection, TSMC stopped all shipments to Sophgo and reported the matter to both U.S. and Taiwanese authorities.
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Avery Carter explores the latest in tech and innovation, delivering stories that make cutting-edge advancements easy to understand. Passionate about the digital age, Avery connects global trends to everyday life.