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

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)

Bloomberg

Published: 2:30pm, 13 Oct, 2023

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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.

Long before TSMC chip plant, Taiwan enjoyed strong support from Arizona

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.

Sweeping US regulations announced last October struck at the heart of Beijing’s tech ambitions but also cast uncertainty around foreign chip makers in China, including TSMC and its South Korean peers. All three secured one-year waivers at the time, which let them import necessary equipment, but have since grappled with uncertainty over whether those exemptions will get extended.

The Biden administration in late September also removed a stringent curb on expansion in China by semiconductor companies that get federal funds to build plants in the US. Both TSMC and Samsung are expected to secure US subsidies for their new facilities in the country.