Apple supplier TSMC: Caught between China and the USA?
Pressure from China and the USA: Apple's most important chip supplier from Taiwan is trying to find its way. This might not be easy in the future.
Headquarters of chip manufacturer TSMC in Taiwan with the company logo on the building.
(Image: Michael Vi/Shutterstock.com)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC for short, is of enormous importance to the IT industry. As a central chip manufacturer for companies such as Apple and Nvidia, the supply chain from server to smartphone would probably collapse if the company could no longer produce. The iPhone manufacturer in particular, whose Apple Silicon SoCs are made entirely by TSMC, is keen to ensure peace and quiet on the production front. This is also the view at TSMC itself, as a top manager told the IT news service The Information: the hope is to remain as neutral as possible between Asia – and here in particular China – and the USA. However, there is the problem that different geopolitical interests clash.
Apple plus Nvidia account for 65 percent of sales
TSMC is currently under investigation by the US Department of Commerce. The reason: the company may have violated US-China sanctions, which are intended to prevent the state-affiliated company Huawei, among others, from obtaining advanced chips. The export of AI chips to China has also been restricted. If TSMC had its way, it would like to be the "semiconductor version of Switzerland", the manager told The Information. But this is becoming increasingly difficult. There are allegations that TSMC used an intermediary company to keep Huawei as a customer – or at least did not take a close look. This involved technology that can train large language models.
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TSMC tries to emphasize to China that it only complies with the rules of the US regulators, but does not explicitly do "more". However, the Taiwanese company tends to focus on American companies simply because of their customers' market shares. For example, around 65 percent of TSMC sales are said to come from Nvidia and Apple in particular. TSMC also has its own factories in China, but is also building large fabs in Arizona, where not the latest generation of SoCs will be produced, but at least those of the previous generation.
TSMC promises compliance
TSMC recently initiated an internal investigation in order to comply with the US Department of Commerce. The Chinese customer base is to be checked for "suspicious orders". It is even said that finished wafers have already been destroyed.
As part of the investigation, TSMC is also working with the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which represents US interests in global trade. "A company suspected of a violation can cooperate greatly to help determine how severely it will be penalized later or whether it will be penalized at all," Jacob Feldgoise of Georgetown University, who researches security and technology, told The Information.
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