TSMC suspends sales of AI chips in China… “Looking at Trump”｜Dong-A Ilbo

There is also a report saying, “Send an official letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce.”

As the United States is wary of China‘s development of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor chips and is strengthening export restrictions to China, Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, has announced that it will not sell AI chips to Chinese customers. The British Financial Times (FT) reported on the 8th. While some interpret it as a request from the U.S. government, some say that TSMC may be paying attention to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

According to the FT, TSMC notified Chinese customers that it would no longer accept orders for AI chips smaller than 7 nanometers starting on the 11th. Until now, semiconductors under 7 nanometers could be exported with a US license, but they announced that they would stop doing so. It was also reported that the supply of related AI chips requires approval from the U.S. government.

Previously, the United States banned U.S. companies such as NVIDIA from exporting cutting-edge AI chips to China. Additionally, starting in September 2020, an extensive export control system was created to prevent global chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix from exporting AI chips to China.

However, controversy arose recently as it was confirmed that China’s Huawei’s AI chipset contained TSMC chips, which are subject to sanctions. TSMC explained, “There was no mistake whatsoever,” and “We will cooperate with the U.S. Department of Commerce to investigate the issue.” Reuters explained on the 9th, “The reason TSMC decided to stop exporting to China is because the U.S. Department of Commerce sent TSMC an official letter restricting the export of high-performance semiconductors to China.” The Ministry of Commerce has not revealed any specific position on this.

The FT predicted, “This measure could be a major crisis for Chinese technology giants such as Alibaba and Baidu, which have invested heavily in semiconductor design,” and added, “There will be difficulties in developing China’s AI accelerators and graphics processing units (GPUs).” .

Some are paying attention to the fact that TSMC’s decision came ahead of the emergence of the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Trump expressed strong dissatisfaction early this year, saying, “Taiwan has taken over almost 100% of America’s chip industry.”

The FT quoted an industry expert and said, “TSMC is known to be wary of being seen as an unreliable or uncooperative company (to President-elect Trump),” and “rather than a show for Trump, it is a move to emphasize that it will not act against American interests.” “He said

New York = Correspondent Lim Woo-sun imsun@donga.com

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