In a report by TechInsights, a well-known semiconductor research institution, it was found that the Huawei Ascend 910C chipset, part of its third generation series, includes advanced components from TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix. This discovery highlights Huawei’s continued reliance on foreign hardware, despite efforts by the Chinese government to boost domestic AI chip production.
According to Bloomberg, TechInsights, based in Ottawa, discovered that the Huawei 910C accelerator contains a die manufactured by TSMC. Researchers also identified older generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM2E) from Samsung and SK Hynix. TechInsights stated that components from these two manufacturers were found in samples of two different Ascend 910C chips.
Huawei did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
The Huawei Ascend 910C is produced by packaging two 910B dies together. In a statement, TSMC mentioned that the hardware of the 910C analyzed by TechInsights appears to use dies analyzed by the institution in October 2024, rather than recent TSMC-produced dies or more advanced technology. TSMC has halted production and shipment of the dies analyzed by TechInsights in October 2024.
TSMC further added that they comply with all export control regulations and have not supplied any goods to Huawei since mid-September 2020.
It remains unclear how and when Huawei acquired hardware from Samsung and SK Hynix, companies that released their components years ago.
In a statement, SK Hynix said that they have ceased all transactions with Huawei since the implementation of restriction measures in 2020. SK Hynix remains committed to strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. export laws.
Samsung stated that the company continues to strictly adhere to U.S. export rules and has no business relations with entities listed in export regulations.
Huawei was blacklisted by the U.S. during Trump’s first presidential term, leading to export restrictions on technology to the company.
SemiAnalysis indicated that while China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has made progress in the field of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), Huawei still heavily relies on foreign hardware. As inventories deplete, it is expected that China will face an HBM bottleneck by the end of this year.
Huawei is striving to increase the production of its 910C chip with the help of local partners. However, securing an adequate supply of foreign components subject to export controls is crucial. Concerns also arise regarding how long Huawei’s existing inventory of foreign components can sustain its operations.
Experts at SemiAnalysis, including Dylan Patel, estimated that Huawei still has about 2.9 million dies in stock to manufacture its Ascend chips, supporting the production of 910C chips until the end of this year.
The U.S. is actively closing loopholes that help Huawei evade American sanctions.
In a report released last October, TechInsights found TSMC chips when dismantling Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip. Upon learning this, TSMC notified the U.S. government. TSMC also halted shipments to Chinese chip design company, Sophgo, as a chip provided to them ended up in Huawei’s product without prior notification to TSMC.
The U.S. stated that Sophgo acted in accordance with Beijing’s requirements to further China’s goal of independently producing advanced chips. In January of this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce added over twenty Chinese companies, including Sophgo, to its export control list.