Foreign media: TSMC to stop supplying chips to Bitmain-associated AI company

On Oct. 26, the U.S. Department of Commerce launched an investigation into TSMC earlier this month to confirm whether it was supplying chips to Huawei, and TSMC subsequently stopped supplying chips to Bitmain-affiliated AI company Sophgo, The Information reported. TSMC has cut off chip supplies to the company in question, according to two people familiar with the matter. Since 2020, Huawei has been banned from purchasing chips made with U.S. technology, including those produced by TSMC, which has said it employs U.S. technology in its chip-making process and has said it will comply with U.S. law.

In previous related news, semiconductor research firm TechInsights claimed that after disassembling Huawei's current top-of-the-line artificial intelligence (AI) gas pedal chip, the Ascend 910B, it found that the chip may have been manufactured by TSMC, which means that TSMC may have violated U.S. export controls.