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US extends waiver for Taiwan’s TSMC to bring advanced chipmaking gear into China
- The world’s biggest contract chip maker has facilities in Shanghai and Nanjing, making chips that are four generations behind the leading edge
- South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have also been granted an indefinite waiver on US chips curbs against China
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has received an extension to its exemption from US trade sanctions on mainland China, allowing it to continue acquiring advanced chip equipment for its operations there, according to a senior Taiwanese official.
TSMC’s operations in mainland China remain normal, Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua told reporters in Taipei on Friday, without providing further details about the waiver, such as how long it is effective for. TSMC was expected to have its waiver renewed for a year, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier.
The world’s biggest contract chip maker has a modest campus in a Shanghai suburb and also operates a site in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, making 16-nanometre chips, roughly four generations behind leading-edge technology.
TSMC did not respond to a request for comment. The Bureau of Industry and Security, part of the US Department of Commerce that is responsible for export controls, declined to comment on TSMC earlier this week and did not immediately respond to queries after the announcement.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have both been effectively granted an indefinite waiver on broader restrictions banning the shipment of advanced American chipmaking gear to China, South Korea’s presidential office said earlier this week.
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