Huawei Used TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix Parts for Its AI Chips

Huawei Technologies Co. used advanced components from Asia’s largest technology firms in at least some of its leading Ascend AI processors, a research firm discovered during teardowns—highlighting China’s ongoing reliance on foreign hardware as it works to boost domestic production of AI semiconductors, Mackenzie Hawkins reported for Bloomberg News.

Huawei is on the U.S. government's Entity List, restricting the flow of technology to the Chinese firm. (Photo: Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine Flickr)

TechInsights found components from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Samsung Electronics Co., and SK Hynix Inc. in multiple samples of Huawei’s third-generation Ascend 910C chips, the firm said in a statement.

In its investigation, the Ottawa-based researchers concluded that TSMC manufactured the dies used in the Huawei accelerators.

They also identified an older-generation type of high-bandwidth memory, designated HBM2E, made by Samsung and SK Hynix.

Components from the two manufacturers were found in two different samples of the Ascend 910C, TechInsights said.

The Shenzhen-based hardware giant has been a target of American policymakers since President Donald Trump’s first term, when Washington launched a yearslong campaign to curtail Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions.

The U.S. government added Huawei to its Entity List, restricting the flow of technology to the Chinese firm.

The broader U.S. effort has also included export restrictions on AI chips themselves, the HBM they’re paired with, and the tools and components used to make both.

Those policies aim to limit Beijing’s access to frontier AI systems and prevent Huawei and other Chinese chipmakers from developing the manufacturing capacity to challenge Nvidia Corp. on the global stage.