TSMC Stops Shipping Chips To Huawei

Go Fish

A new chapter in the ongoing saga of Huawei was released today, this time on the supply side as opposed to on the demand end of the equation.  So far four of the five ‘Five Eyes’ countries have announced they will no longer purchase Huawei equipment, Canada being the only member which hasn’t decided one way or the other as of yet.

Today The Register learned from TSMC’s chairman, Mark Liu, that TSMC will stop shipping products to Huawei, and its chip design wing HiSilicon in the next two months.  Indeed, he also revealed that they have not taken any new orders from Huawei since May 15th and will not be doing so any time soon.  This move comes to ensure TSMC complies with the recently completed review of the US dictate that no technology designed in the USA will be used to produce products for Huawei or several other companies considered to be risks to security/

As TSMC reported profits of $4.1bn in the second quarter of 2020, an increase of 81% from this time last year the loss of business will not hurt their bottom line.  This move could actually benefit enthusiasts as it opens up space on the production line for other customers such as AMD and NVIDIA, just in time to possibly boost the quantities of new products expected from both of them.

Speaking of increasing production, TSMC is still on target for the 2024 opening of their $12bn chip factory in Arizona.n in 2024.