Huawei Technologies now relies on foreign components to build chips
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Huawei Technologies Co.’s Ascend 910C processors, considered China’s most competitive alternative to Nvidia’s AI hardware, contain advanced components from major Asian chipmakers. Research firms, including TechInsights and SemiAnalysis, conducted teardowns that revealed the Shenzhen-based company relied on advanced parts from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Samsung Electronics Co., and SK Hynix Inc. to build its third-generation Ascend accelerators. Huawei relies on stockpiled memory chips for its Ascend 910C Huawei began shipping the Ascend 910C earlier this year, giving the market a competitive alternative to Nvidia Corp’s advanced AI processors. While the chips are fully designed in China, investigations conducted by Techinsight revealed that the dies powering the Ascend 910C originated from TSMC’s 7-nanometer process technology, contradicting the assumption that domestic foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. had been responsible for fabricating the latest generation. The South China Morning Post confirmed that separate chip samples contained TSMC-made dies and high-bandwidth memory (HBM2E) obtained from Samsung and SK Hynix. The report confirmed that Huawei gained access to millions of TSMC wafers through an intermediary company called Sophgo. TSMC has since cut ties with Sophgo, disclosed the transactions to U.S. authorities, and reiterated that it has not supplied Huawei directly since September 2020, according to a Reuters report. However, the existing stockpile of dies is expected to support Huawei’s shipments of the Ascend 910C this year. Both Samsung and SK Hynix said they ceased doing business with Huawei after export restrictions were imposed. South Korean companies emphasized compliance with U.S. export regulations and confirmed that they no longer supply Huawei with restricted components. Dylan Patel, a SemiAnalysis analyst, revealed that Huawei purchased approximately $500 million worth of wafers via Sophgo, which later resold around 2.9 million dies to the company. Patel’s analysis suggests that China may face a supply shortage for high-bandwidth memory by…
