Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co has stopped new orders from Huawei Technologies in response to Washington’s move aimed at further limiting chip supplies to the Chinese company, the Nikkei reported on Monday, citing multiple sources.
The orders TSMC took before the new ban and those already in production are not impacted and could continue to proceed if those chips could be shipped before mid-September, according to the report.
TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chip maker and a key Huawei supplier, had announced plans to build a US-based plant on Thursday and on Friday added it was “following the US export rule change closely”.
A new rule, unveiled by the US commerce department on Friday, expands US authority to require licences for sales to Huawei of semiconductors made abroad with US technology, vastly expanding its reach to halt exports to the world’s second largest smartphone maker.
Huawei declined to comment, while TSMC said it does not disclose order details and added the report was “purely market rumour”. — Reported by Shubham Kalia, (c) 2020 Reuters