The United States has extended TSMC’s waiver on chip curbs targeting China, allowing the world’s largest contract chipmaker to supply US chip equipment to the company’s factories in China.
The development was shared by Taiwan’s Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua on Friday, days after a similar extension was granted to top South Korean chipmakers.
Wang told reporters that it was her understanding a waiver extension similar to South Korea’s had been extended for TSMC too. She did not give further details, however.
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Her ministry referred further questions to TSMC, which said it expects to receive permission to supply US chip equipment to its factory in China indefinitely.
In a statement, TSMC said the US Bureau of Industry and Security had advised it to apply for a “validated end-user” (VEU) authorisation, which would serve as a permanent authorisation for its China operations.
“We expect to receive a permanent authorisation through the VEU process,” the company said, noting that it did not need to apply for VEU status in the past.
South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix, which also won indefinite waivers this week, are also on the VEU list.
The waivers follow Washington’s sweeping sanctions from last October targeting China’s chipmaking abilities. The measures included cutting off China from advanced semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with US tools.
The measures posed significant challenges for South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers which have a massive market in China and have ploughed billions of dollars to set up chip fabs in the country.
TSMC said last year it had been granted a one-year authorisation by the US that covered its factory in Nanjing, China, that makes less-advanced 28 nanometre chips.
- Reuters, with additional inputs from Vishakha Saxena
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