原文標題：Exclusive: TSMC could face $1 billion or more fine from US probe , sources say 原文連結：https://reurl.cc/3KOj0R 發布時間：April 8, 202511:56 PM GMT+8 記者署名： Karen Freifeld 原文內容： April 8 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (2330.TW), opens new tab could face a penalty of $1 billion or more to settle a U.S. export control investigation over a chip it made that ended up inside a Huawei AI processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. The U.S. Department of Commerce has been investigating the world's biggest contract chipmaker's work for China-based Sophgo, the sources said. The design company's TSMC-made chip matched one found in Huawei's high-end Ascend 910B artificial intelligence processor, according to the people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Huawei -- a company at the center of China's AI chip ambitions that has been accused of sanctions busting and trade secret theft -- is on a U.S. trade list that restricts it from receiving goods made with U.S. technology. TSMC made nearly three million chips in recent years that matched the design ordered by Sophgo and likely ended up with Huawei, according to Lennart Heim, a researcher at RAND's Technology and Security and Policy Center in Arlington, Virginia, who is tracking Chinese developments in AI. The $1 billion-plus potential penalty comes from export control regulations allowing for a fine of up to twice the value of transactions that violate the rules, the sources said. Because TSMC's chipmaking equipment includes U.S. technology, the company's Taiwan factories are within reach of U.S. export controls that prevent it from making chips for Huawei, or producing certain advanced chips for any customer in China without a U.S. license. Heim said that based on the design, which is for AI applications, TSMC should not have made the chip for a company headquartered in China, especially given the risk that it could be diverted to a restricted entity like Huawei. Penalizing TSMC comes at a critical moment for U.S.-Taiwan relations as the two countries begin re-negotiating their trading relationship after Trump last week slapped a 32% levy on imports from Taipei. The tariffs exclude chips, but Trump has said his team is looking at levies on semiconductors. In March, TSMC said at the White House that it plans to make a fresh $100 billion investment in the United States that includes building five additional chip facilities in coming years. Reuters could not determine how the Trump administration will proceed with TSMC or when the matter would be resolved. Top officials have said they plan to seek higher penalties for export violations. A spokesperson for the Commerce Department declined comment. TSMC spokesperson Nina Kao said in a statement that the company is committed to complying with the law. She added that TSMC has not supplied to Huawei since mid-September 2020 and that they are cooperating with the Commerce Department. No public action has been taken against TSMC. But typically, Commerce issues a "proposed charging letter" to a company it believes has engaged in prohibited conduct. The letter usually cites the dates alleged violations took place, the value, and the formula for a civil penalty, and it gives the company 30 days to respond. MORE ENFORCEMENT At a conference in Washington last month, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke about the role of export control enforcement in addressing the threat from China. "We are going to seek in this administration a dramatic increase in enforcement and fines for people who break the rules," Lutnick said. "We have had enough of people trying to make a dollar supporting the people who seek to destroy our way of life." Jeffrey Kessler, who was confirmed in March as Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security to oversee U.S. export controls, was more targeted at his Feb. 27 nomination hearing, saying that reports of TSMC chips going to Huawei was "a huge concern" and that "strong enforcement" was critical. A 10-figure fine for export control violations would be rare. In 2023, BIS imposed a $300 million penalty on Seagate Technology Holdings (STX.O), opens new tab as part of a settlement over its shipping over $1.1 billion worth of hard disk drives to Huawei, as first reported by Reuters. TSMC first came under scrutiny last fall. TechInsights, a Canadian tech research firm, took apart a Huawei 910B AI accelerator and found a TSMC die, as it's also called, in the multi-chip system. After the TechInsights finding, TSMC suspended shipments to Sophgo and, in November, as Reuters reported, the Commerce Department ordered the chipmaker to halt shipments to China of seven-nanometer or more advanced chips that could be used in AI applications. In January, Sophgo, which in October denied any business relationship with Huawei, was placed on the same Commerce department restricted trade list as Huawei. Sophgo could not be reached for comment. Huawei's Ascend 910B has been viewed as the most advanced mass-produced AI chip available from a Chinese company, providing an alternative to California-based industry leader Nvidia. Reporting by Karen Freifeld; editing by Chris Sanders and Anna Driver 以下是我請Chat GPT快速摘要: 台灣積體電路製造公司（TSMC）可能面臨來自美國出口管制調查的高達10億美元罰款。美 方調查指出，TSMC為中國公司Sophgo製造的晶片，設計上與華為的高端Ascend 910B人工 智慧處理器中的晶片相似。華為是美國制裁的對象，禁止其使用美國技術製造的產品。 TSMC的晶片可能因此被轉交給華為，違反了美國的出口管制規定。根據規定，違反出口管 制的罰款可達交易價值的兩倍，TSMC可能面臨重罰。 TSMC強調自2020年9月中以來未向華為供貨，並表示公司將全力配合美方調查。此外，儘 管目前尚未有公開的法律行動，但美國商務部已經對此事進行調查，並可能會發出正式指 控。此次事件發生在美台貿易關係敏感的時刻，尤其是在美國對台徵收32%關稅後，雙方 正進行貿易關係的重新協商。 心得/評論： 各位 廠也設了 關稅也課了 現在還要被罰錢 逮完人是不是命賤 現在歐美股都還有在盤上 會不會明天台股獨憔悴? 995 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 218.211.168.144 (臺灣) ※ 文章網址: https://webptt.cc/bbs/Stock/M.1744128347.A.CFB.html