Last October, US research firm TechInsights revealed that TSMC chip technology was used in Huawei's Ascend 910B artificial intelligence (AI) chip. This shows that the Chinese telecommunications giant is still able to circumvent the technological barriers imposed by the United States on them since 2019. As a result, TSMC faces a fine of $1 billion for failing to prevent its chips from falling into the hands of Huawei, which has been subject to technological barriers imposed by the United States.
Today, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China added TechInsights and several other companies to a list of untrustworthy entities. This makes TechInsights prohibited from engaging in transactions, cooperation and other activities with local companies, especially in the transmission of data or obtaining sensitive information.
This is China's effort to prevent local companies from continuing to use technology that is blocked from being detected by foreign countries. The trade war between China and the United States has not ended yet, with local companies advised to no longer buy NVIDIA chips. Instead, they are encouraged to buy artificial intelligence (AI) chips made by local companies such as NVIDIA.
The tariff war earlier this year saw the US impose import tariffs of up to 245% on products imported from China. China then retaliated by blocking exports of rare earth elements and rare earth magnets to the US. This has impacted American EV, battery and military manufacturers that need them.