US revokes TSMC’s waiver for shipments of chip supplies to China: Bloomberg
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The US Government has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s authorisation to ship essential equipment to its key Chinese chipmaking factory, potentially halting its ability to continue production at the facility.
The context: Bloomberg reports that US officials recently told TSMC of their decision to end the ‘validated end user’ (VEU) status for the chipmaker’s site in Nanjing province.
The move follows the administration’s decision to pull the VEU designations of the Chinese facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc last week. Those waivers are set to expire at the end of December.
“TSMC has received notification from the U.S. Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing will be revoked effective December 31, 2025,” TSMC said in a statement shared with Bloomberg. “While we are evaluating the situation and taking appropriate measures, including communicating with the US government, we remain fully committed to ensuring the uninterrupted operation of TSMC Nanjing.”
Compared to that of Samsung and SK Hynix, TSMC’s manufacturing footprint in China is relatively small, with Bloomberg explaining that TSMC’s Nanjing site began production in 2018 and contributed a small fraction of TSMC’s total revenue last year.
On the Samsung and SK Hynix VEU revocations, the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said former VEU participants will have 120 days following publication of the rule in the Federal Register to apply for and obtain export licenses. Going forward, BIS intends to grant export license applications to allow former VEU participants to operate their existing fabs in China. However, BIS does not intend to grant licenses to expand capacity or upgrade technology at fabs in China.
The sources: Bloomberg, Bureau of Industry and Security
