For a few weeks now, information has been leaked indicating that The US planned to apply new limits to the sale of hardware in Huawei devices, which was to be expected. Now, it seems like it's finally happening. In fact, the plans for new measures by the North American country could threaten the supply of 14-nanometer chips by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to Huawei.
Huawei has been accused by several countries of maintaining close ties to China's military establishment and functioning as an arm of the communist government, leading its 5G and other electronic systems to become a focus of suspicion. Because of this, the Trump Administration was preparing a 10% US technology cap for products to be supplied to HuaweiLiberty Times reported yesterday, affecting TSMC's shipments to the Chinese company.
Of TSMC chips, 7nm products only contain 9% US technology or parts, so it wouldn't be a big deal if these are not offered, but for 14nm semiconductors, the content of US increases to 15%. This means that If the restriction comes into play, TSMC will no longer be able to ship 14nm chips to Huawei.
When asked for a comment on the likelihood of such a restriction, TSMC said that at this time the United States had not changed its rules, so everything still seems to be going normal. The company did not answer questions about purely hypothetical situations, according to the Liberty Times, which is understandable since it knows that it has to be very responsible with its words. This means that, for now at least, all we can do is wait and see what happens. We will surely be receiving news about it.