Recent #Export Controls news in the semiconductor industry

3 months ago

➀ Huawei reportedly acquired two million Ascend 910 AI chips from TSMC last year through shell companies;

➁ TSMC manufactured large quantities of Huawei Ascend 910B chips for shell companies and shipped them to China;

➂ There are questions about the availability of HBM for integration with the chips;

➃ The report by CSIS suggests Huawei's stockpiling strategy;

➄ The Ascend 910B and Ascend 910C yields are low, with most parts shipped with disabled compute elements.

AIAI ChipChinaExport ControlsHuaweiTSMCsemiconductor
3 months ago
1. The article predicts that the US-China military AI competition may lead the US to increase pressure on the Netherlands for stricter export controls. 2. There is a small but significant risk that ASML may lose its DUV export license to China, which could severely impact revenue normalization in this region in 2025. 3. A downward revision to ASML's 2025 guidance could trigger a significant sell-off and push the share price towards the mid-$500 support level. 4. Despite the long-term outlook potentially improving with high NA EUV system sales in 2026 and beyond, the author rates ASML as a strong sell with a 12-month timeframe.
Export Controlsmarket analysissemiconductor industry
3 months ago

➀ Application Materials reported better-than-expected financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, with revenue of $7.17 billion, up 7% year-over-year;

➁ The company anticipates a $4 billion revenue loss in fiscal 2025 due to new U.S. export control policies;

➂ Application Materials had to stop providing maintenance services for some Chinese customers' equipment, leading to a significant revenue loss in the second quarter.

Export Controlssemiconductor equipment
5 months ago
➀ The U.S. government plans to impose stricter export controls on advanced processors made by TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Intel, and Samsung Foundry. These rules target processors with 30 billion transistors or more on 14nm or 16nm nodes. ➁ Exceptions include chips with fewer than 30 billion transistors and those designed by companies based in the U.S. or Taiwan. ➂ The new rules may impact the sale of mainstream GPUs to Chinese entities, particularly in the AI and gaming sectors.
AMDChinaExport ControlsGlobalfoundriesIntelNVIDIATSMCTransistorsUS Governmentsemiconductortech industry
5 months ago
➀ Industry groups criticize the lack of consultation on new US export controls for AI processors; ➁ The new regulations may negatively impact US companies and shift market share to international competitors; ➂ The restrictions could hinder China's development of AI processors and bolster the efforts of other countries to produce sovereign processors.
AI ChipsAMDBroadcomChinaExport ControlsIntelMicronNVIDIAUSAsemiconductor
5 months ago
➀ The U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations finds the Department of Commerce's efforts to enforce bans and sanctions against Russia and China inadequate due to underfunding. ➁ The investigation reveals the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) lacks resources to effectively enforce export controls and must rely on voluntary compliance from chipmakers. ➂ Despite sanctions, high-tech American chips are still found in Russian drones and missiles, and sanctioned firms create new entities to import American tech.
Export ControlsSanctionschip industrynational securitysemiconductor
5 months ago

➀ The US Commerce Department has requested Nvidia to investigate how its chips entered China over the past year.

➁ Nvidia has asked Supermicro Computer and Dell Technologies to inspect Southeast Asian clients, as their server products use Nvidia's AI chips.

➂ Nvidia emphasizes compliance with export restrictions and denounces any illegal sales.

➃ Some individuals are suspected of copying serial numbers from Supermicro's servers and connecting them to other servers they have access to.

➄ China's State Administration for Market Regulation has launched an investigation against Nvidia for suspected violations of the Anti-Monopoly Law.

➅ Nvidia's acquisition of Mellanox, a network interconnect product company, has raised concerns about potential monopolistic practices.

➆ The US government has imposed restrictions on the export of advanced AI chips to China, including Nvidia's A100 and H100.

➇ In response to US restrictions, China has taken countermeasures, including restricting exports of certain materials to the US.

ChinaExport ControlsNVIDIAtechnology
6 months ago

➀ The US government has imposed export controls on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and semiconductor equipment to China to prevent China from acquiring key components for AI development.

➁ The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the addition of specific HBM products to the list of controlled items.

➂ The controls apply to products with memory bandwidth density of over 2 gigabytes per square millimeter per second.

AIChinaExport Controlssemiconductor
6 months ago

➀ ASML's overlay tool (YieldStar) and OPC mask making software (Tachyon suite) sales impacted by new export controls;

➁ Updated export control regulations include metrology and software in restricted technologies list;

➂ Additional fab locations in China added to US restrictions list;

➃ Commerce issued three new documents clarifying new export control rules;

➄ China's semiconductor phone book copied-pasted in the new export control list;

➅ ERC added 106 entities to the Entity List.

ASMLExport Controlssemiconductor industry
7 months ago
➀ GlobalFoundries has been fined $500,000 for shipping $17 million worth of silicon wafers to China's SJ Semiconductor, which is on the US entity list. ➁ The violation was due to a data error, and GlobalFoundries voluntarily disclosed the shipments. ➃ The fine is a rare instance of a U.S. semiconductor firm facing financial repercussions under US export control policies.
ChinaExport ControlsGlobalfoundriessemiconductor
7 months ago

➀ Current Western export controls have slowed China's progress in advanced logic, but are not perfect or infallible.

➁ Loopholes in restrictions include offshore manufacturing, end-use workarounds, and renaming/reclassifying technologies.

➂ Huawei's fab network poses a national security concern, exploiting sanctions and advancing domestic semiconductor supply chains.

➃ WFE suppliers' lobbying for relaxed controls is refuted by strong business performance and long-term market share impacts from domestic Chinese firms.

➄ Suggestions for improving export controls include expanding the entity list, aligning ally restrictions, tightening supply chain restrictions, and improving enforcement.

Export Controlsnational security
7 months ago

➀ TSMC stopped shipping chips to a specific customer in mid-October after discovering the chips were used in Huawei products;

➁ It is unclear whether the customer represents Huawei and where its headquarters are located;

➂ The incident provides new clues to recent reports, including those from The Information, which claimed the US recently contacted TSMC about producing chips for a blacklisted Chinese company;

➃ Huawei has relied on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) for its chip production, including the 7-nanometer chips used in its smartphones last August;

➄ TSMC stopped shipping chips to Huawei after September 15, 2020, and reiterated this point when asked about TechInsights' report;

➅ TSMC and Huawei representatives refused to comment on the reports;

➆ The US Department of Commerce acknowledged that there may have been violations of US export control regulations;

➇ TSMC stated that it is a law-abiding company committed to complying with all applicable regulations, including export control regulations;

➈ Huawei stated that it has not produced any chips through TSMC since the implementation of the Foreign Direct Product Rule (FDPR) in 2020;

➉ Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs stated that Taiwan respects the US' export control measures and will communicate fully with TSMC;

➊ The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) had a meeting with TSMC executives in October to discuss supply chain issues, including whether third-party distributors can provide restricted technology to China.

Export ControlsHuaweiTSMCsemiconductorstechnology
7 months ago

➀ The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating TSMC for potentially producing AI or smartphone chips for Huawei.

➁ TSMC responds that the company is a law-abiding enterprise committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including export controls.

➂ There is a possibility that Huawei may have purchased chips from TSMC under different company names or through intermediary companies, and it is being investigated whether TSMC conducted due diligence on customers (KYC) when accepting orders.

Export ControlsHuaweiTaiwan Semiconductor
8 months ago

➀ ASML, a major semiconductor manufacturing equipment company, has lowered its earnings forecast, impacting global semiconductor stocks.

➁ ASML's revenue from the Chinese market, which accounted for about 50% of its overall revenue, is expected to decline to around 20% next year due to US export controls.

➂ The semiconductor industry is facing weak demand, particularly for AI以外的 products, and concerns about the impact of US export controls are rising.

ASMLExport Controls
10 months ago
➀ China has extended its export controls to include antimony, a critical semiconductor material, following previous controls on gallium and germanium. ➁ Antimony is used in various applications including semiconductors, solar cells, and as a flame retardant. ➂ The move is seen as a strategic countermeasure against Western semiconductor export restrictions, leveraging China's significant global reserves and production of antimony.
Export ControlsSemiconductor MaterialsStrategic Countermeasures