US demand for chip supply data from TSMC, Samsung, Apple, others sparks debate about true intentions in China

The US government’s request for supply chain information from chip firms, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has triggered debate in China, where some see Washington’s latest effort to grapple with a global chip shortage as hegemonic and harmful to their country’s interests.

The US Commerce Department last month asked chip makers to submit supply chain information, including inventory data, by November 8. The information is being requested from foreign and domestic companies, including semiconductor suppliers Samsung Electronics and Intel, carmakers Daimler and BMW, and gadget and software firms like Apple and Microsoft.

If companies do not answer the request by the deadline, “then we have other tools in our toolbox that require them to give us data,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “I hope we don‘t get there. But if we have to, we will.”

While no Chinese companies are directly involved, it has set off alarm bells within the county’s semiconductor industry, which has faced mounting restrictions from US sanctions that curtail access to advanced chip technologies and equipment. The decision by TSMC to comply with the sanctions by halting production for Huawei Technologies Co has devastated the Shenzhen-based company’s smartphone business.