Insider: US plans to blacklist Bitmain-affiliated AI company Sophgo

A person familiar with the matter revealed that the Biden administration plans to include Sophgo, an artificial intelligence company associated with Bitmain, on the U.S. Department of Commerce's restricted trade list because the company's TSMC-made chips were illegally incorporated into Huawei's artificial intelligence processors. It is reported that companies that violate U.S. national security and foreign policy interests are included in the list, and exporters are prohibited from shipping goods and technology to the United States without a license, and the license is likely to be rejected. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Commerce declined to comment. Sophgo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company said in a statement in October that it "has never established any direct or indirect business relationship with Huawei." Earlier in October, Sophgo said in a written statement that it had never had any direct or indirect business relationship with Huawei, but did not deny reports that TSMC had cut off its chip supply. In addition, the company said that "a detailed investigation report has been provided to TSMC to prove that the company has nothing to do with the Huawei investigation." The U.S. Department of Commerce launched an investigation into TSMC at the beginning of the month to confirm whether it provided chips to Huawei, and TSMC subsequently stopped supplying chips to Sophgo, an artificial intelligence company associated with Bitmain. Two people familiar with the matter said TSMC has cut off chip supplies to related companies. Since 2020, Huawei has been banned from purchasing chips made with U.S. technology, including chips produced by TSMC. TSMC said it used U.S. technology in its chip manufacturing process and said it would comply with U.S. law. Earlier, semiconductor research company TechInsights claimed that after dismantling Huawei's current most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator chip Ascend 910B, it was found that the chip may have been manufactured by TSMC, which also means that TSMC may have violated U.S. export controls.