TSMC might face $1 billion fine for Huawei Ascend 910B debacle

It has been a while since Huawei got cut off from TSMC, with the Kirin 9000 being the last chip manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm node. But recently, it got thwarted trying to use TSMC nodes for its Ascend 910B chip. TSMC and Technsights got wind of a chip that looked a bit too much like Huawei's and promptly shut it down. However, that might have not been enough, and if a new report is accurate, the chipmaker might face hefty fines as a result.

Anonymous sources asking not to be identified told Reuters that TSMC could be fined up to $1 billion for allegedly violating export control rules. This sounds sketchy because TSMC proactively informed the US Commerce Department about Huawei's failed purchase. Nevertheless, there could be more to the case that hasn't been revealed publicly. The Commerce Department has not publicly commented on the issue, and TSMC states it has been in compliance all along.

Given the conflicting timeline of events, there's a good chance TSMC could evade fines, especially in these tumultuous times where the US requires TSMC's chipmaking prowess to stay ahead of China. But there could be some truth to it because Chinese firms have been increasingly using offshore or proxy companies to get access to otherwise banned materials, like how DeepSeek recently got its hands on cutting-edge Nvidia chips for AI training.