Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the powerhouse behind Apple and Nvidia’s chips, has launched an urgent probe into how its bleeding-edge silicon ended up in Huawei’s Ascend 910B – a monster of an AI processor.
The 910B is different from your average CPU. This “multi-chipset” marvel is custom-built to devour AI workloads whole. So, when TSMC discovered its chips powering the 910B’s hungry cores, alarm bells rang.
The plot thickens: the buyer who sourced the TSMC chips for Huawei remains a mystery. Even the Taiwanese government has been left in the dark. But one thing is clear – TSMC acted fast. Chip supplies to the buyer were choked off within days of the discovery, a Taiwanese official confirmed to Reuters.
Research firm TechInsights blazed the trail, leading TSMC to the illicit 910B chips. Their teardown of the processor was like finding a fingerprint at a crime scene—it led TSMC straight to its own compromised silicon.
TSMC is adamant that it’s a model global citizen who complies with all export controls. “We take potential issues extremely seriously.” “We investigate, we communicate, we ensure compliance—always.”
But the stakes couldn’t be higher. Since late 2022, the US has imposed draconian export bans on advanced chips to China and other sanctioned nations. TSMC, having accepted billions in US grants and loans to expand its Arizona operations, is under a microscope.
One thing is sure: in the high-stakes world of AI and semiconductor geopolitics, even the tiniest microchip can trigger a global incident.
