short summary via Leo:
Huawei unveiled the Kirin 9000S mobile processor at the end of 2023, engraved in 7 nm, while the American embargo was to limit them to the 14 nm node.
Huawei and SMIC have pushed DUV lithography equipment beyond its operating limits to achieve finer engraving, although the cost is much higher and the yields lower than the mature processes of large international foundries.
The U.S. government has continued to tighten restrictive measures aimed at hampering China's electronics industry and preventing it from moving forward too quickly, ostensibly in the name of U.S. national security.
Huawei's Ascend 910B chip, intended for artificial intelligence processing, was recently disassembled and found to include an element recently engraved by the TSMC foundry, in violation of restrictions imposed since 2019.
TSMC said it had identified the origin of the component in the Ascend 910B chip and had stopped deliveries to Chinese chip design company Sophgo.
Sophgo, however, claims to have no relationship with Huawei and to be in compliance with current regulations. Sophgo is affiliated with the company specializing in cryptocurrency mining Bitmain, recalls Reuters.
Recently, Sophgo was investigated in Taiwan in 2021 for poaching engineers from TSMC and carrying out R&D activities on chip development.
Comment :
a beautiful fool's game, where to pass selective discriminatory anti-liberal US sanctions, an independent chip manufacturer plays the jack of spades.
I still find it difficult to understand why we should obey the United States against free trade and especially in a position of dominance, in fact which market has more liquidity and technological needs: the United States or China?
Why then would TSMC refrain from selling its work to Chinese companies since there is more money to be made with China than with the United States? Asian politeness? They say that we do what the cardboard colossus dictates, we come to an agreement between paper tigers and dragons and we do what we want! We poach, we hire, we create a nice scapegoat for the occasion, all with a smile and a few exchanges of capital and well-watered toasts.
I believe that nothing will prevent this region of the world from doing what it wants, from becoming number 1 or from selling factories in Europe and the US and trading with whoever they want.
It's even rather ridiculous and petty, it will go well with the Trump line!
