TSMC to Keep Supplying Chips to Huawei | Hacker News Reader

TSMC to Keep Supplying Chips to Huawei

eetimes.com

35 pointsbaybal221 comments

The difference with ARM:

- US can bar US companies from working with ARM, and nothing changes for them short term (companies simply keeping using their masks)

- US can bar US companies from working with TSMC, and it gets the greatest shutdown on shipments of all things electronic, while the rest of the world happily gains

Just a note: the author claims Huawei is the number 2 smartphone company ahead of Apple, but the cited story was regarding a 2 mo streak in 2017 before Apple released the iPhone 8. According to IDC [0], the rankings currently go Samsung, Apple, then Huawei in smartphone market share.

[0] https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/01/31/idc-xiaomi-is-fourth-l...

Huawei was number 2 ahead of Apple in Q1 2019[1].

[1]https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3Fn1mqLMMpADLzTeJ0q6yoHShyY=...

TSMC just manufactures the designs. The designs are still required to be made by the customer of TSMC.

I guess TSMC isn't based in the US in any meaningful way. Good for them.

The US is in no position to mess with TSMC. None.

No position? You realize TSMC makes stuff for Apple, right? Saying that are in no position to mess with them is a bit of an overstatement.

If you force TSMC to make a choice they might decide to cut Apple off.

The US is Taiwan's biggest supporter. The US could theoretically really flex some muscle here, since Taiwan essentially depends on the US for defense.

And go to who? Samsung is the only real competitor

In theory, Intel

Intel can barely keep up with manufacturing their own chips, and have nearly lost to AMD

Hence, "in theory"

The US is in no position to mess with TSMC. None.

I strongly agree.

To elaborate, for all the naysayers:

In the early days everyone built their own fabs. Jerry Sanders famously quipped "real men have fabs". But no more. Jerry's company, AMD, doesn't have fabs. Neither do most companies.

TSMC is vitally important to the USA and to the rest of the free world. The fact that Taiwan is so close to mainland China is of enormous strategic significance.

TSMC is the largest silicon "arms dealer" to the entire world.

You'd think the ROC/PRC situation might make them cautious about wandering into the middle of a US/PRC pissing match though.

Not sure how this is possible. ARM withdrew its license, and so did SD Association (whose IP would presumably need to be on the chip as well): https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/22/18635326/huawei-arm-chip-.... Or maybe they're just saying "we'll make whatever designs you send to us, even if they are in violation of your own licensing deals with IP holders" hoping that Huawei won't be so reckless as to put in any orders. Seems like a legally precarious position to be in.

The trick is that ARM China is Chinese company with Chinese controlling stake, and completely separate licensing policies from ARM UK.

And it is known that Huawei made a castling move few months ago by switching licensing from ARM UK to ARM China

> And it is known that Huawei made a castling move few months ago by switching licensing from ARM UK to ARM China

Do you have a reference for this?

How can it be a Chinese company if ARM is a Japanese company now?

In June 2018, SoftBank sold 51% of ARM's Chinese operation to ARM China for $775M.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/06/softbank_offloads_5...

Ah, I didn't know. Thanks for pointing this out.

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