A Canadian research firm called TechInsights conducted an in-depth investigation on one of Huawei’s artificial intelligence accelerators and found a chip manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Bloomberg spoke to multiple people familiar with the investigation who asked not to be named because TechInsights’ report has been made public.
Unidentified sources say TechInsights’ investigation found an Ascend 910B chip manufactured by TSMC in one of Huawei’s AI accelerators. The company that conducted the investigation declined to comment.
TechInsights informed TSMC of its findings before publishing its report, Reuters reports. This prompted TSMC to notify the US Commerce Department earlier this month. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times report said TSMC told the department that a customer had placed an order for a chip similar to Huawei’s Ascend 910B. An FT source said TSMC had “spoken to both the relevant customer and the Commerce Department” after receiving the suspicious order.
The US Commerce Department imposed additional trade sanctions against Huawei, barring the electronics company from obtaining chips made by foreign firms. Earlier this year, the US government tightened its restrictions even further by revoking its licenses with Intel and Qualcomm to make chips for its devices.
TSMC denied in a statement to the Commerce Department that it had any working relationship with Huawei since mid-September 2020. TSMC also told Bloomberg that it had not made any chips for Huawei due to the revised restrictions. Huawei denied that it had ever “launched a 910B chip.”
This is not the first time Huawei has been caught trying to thwart US sanctions and trade restrictions. Bloomberg also revealed in May that Huawei funded secret research at US universities, including Harvard, by funneling the money through a Washington-based scientific research foundation called Optica.
The foundation said it decided to return the money in June and chief executives Elizabeth Rosen and Chad Stark stepped down the following August. After CES and ahead of Samsung’s Unpacked, the Engadget crew had a chance to catch its breath this week. But we kept an eye on the deal machine to find out which tech sales are worth your money.
Right now, we’re seeing some good deals from Apple – one on the latest iPad mini and another on the new 15-inch MacBook Air – as well as a first-time discount on the Kindle Colorsoft ereader.
There are some discounts on Bluetooth trackers that will help you keep track of your keys and bag. And Best Buy is still running a promotion giving away three free months of Apple TV+ so you can start watching the just-released season two of Severance. Here are this week’s best tech deals you can still get today.