(Bloomberg) — An examination of Huawei Technologies Co.’s latest AI offering. has revealed an advanced processor made by Nvidia Corp. manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., indicating that China is still struggling to reliably make its own advanced chips in sufficient quantities.
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Canada-based research firm TechInsights recently took apart at least one of the Shenzhen conglomerate’s top artificial intelligence accelerators, discovering an Ascend 910B chip manufactured by TSMC, according to people familiar with a recent teardown of the devices. They requested anonymity to discuss a report that is not public.
Huawei has been on a US sanctions list since August 2020, meaning the company is not allowed to do business with TSMC and its contract chip manufacturers without a license from the US government. Over the past year, Huawei has relied on local partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. for production, including a 7-nanometer chip that debuted in a Huawei smartphone last August.
U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed doubt about SMIC’s ability to make 7nm chips at scale and have questioned the performance of those components. Huawei’s use of TSMC output for its latest AI chips could be a sign that strengthens that narrative. It remains unclear how and when Huawei obtained the TSMC chips. The Taiwanese chipmaker has said it has halted all shipments to Huawei after September 15, 2020, which the company reiterated when asked about the TechInsights report.
“TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including applicable export controls. In accordance with regulatory requirements, TSMC has not supplied Huawei since mid-September 2020,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We have proactively communicated with the US Department of Commerce regarding the issue in the report. We are not aware of TSMC being the subject of any investigation at this time.”
In its own statement, Huawei said it “has not produced any chips through TSMC following the implementation of the US Department of Commerce’s changes to its FDPR targeting Huawei in 2020,” a reference to the direct foreign exchange rule products. US trade restriction. “Huawei never launched the 910B chip,” the company said.
TechInsights declined to comment. A Commerce Department spokesperson said the agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which is responsible for semiconductor trade restrictions, “is aware of reports of possible violations of U.S. export controls.”
“We cannot say whether an investigation is underway,” the spokesperson said. “BIS is committed to ensuring compliance with the robust controls we have put in place regarding the Chinese acquisition of advanced semiconductors.”
BIS officials met with TSMC executives in mid-October to discuss issues related to the chipmaker’s supply chain, including whether third-party distributors can offer China the ability to access limited technology, said one of the people, who spoke to the described the meeting as collaborative. The meeting was not about the TechInsights report, the person said.
The Information previously reported that Commerce Department officials had contacted TSMC about whether the company had produced chips for Huawei.
Huawei’s 910 accelerator – the predecessor to 910B – was in production in 2019, before the US government expanded sanctions against the Chinese telecom giant. Huawei had stockpiled TSMC chips around that time, allowing the company to use a TSMC 5-nanometer chip, a generation ahead of the 7-nanometer, in a laptop released late last year.
AI accelerators – chips used to develop artificial intelligence models – have become a prized commodity in the technology industry. Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia uses TSMC to produce its market-leading versions, and has seen its sales and valuation explode over the past two years. The US has limited exports of advanced Nvidia chips to China, and Huawei is offering its accelerators as a domestic alternative.
It is not clear whether Huawei designed the 910B chip or placed orders before it was blacklisted. According to the Washington-based think tank Center for Security and Emerging Technology, the processor was first noticed in server products as early as 2022.
It started gaining prominence in Chinese news media in 2023, although Huawei has not officially hosted a launch event. Iflytek Co. unveiled a new server product with the AI accelerator in August 2023, and Baidu Inc. also ordered more than 1,000 910B units last year, according to Taipei-based research firm TrendForce.
–With help from Gao Yuan and Jessica Sui.
(Updates with Huawei response in sixth paragraph.)
