Huawei uses TSMC and Samsung components in its chip production despite restrictions

Huawei is using components from major Asian tech companies in some of its Ascend artificial intelligence chips, researchers at TechInsights have learned. The findings underscore China’s reliance on foreign equipment as the country ramps up its own production of AI chips, Bloomberg reports.

The report notes that Huawei chips contain components from Samsung, SK Hynix, and the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC. Such elements were found in the Ascend 910C models.

The investigation revealed that TMSC manufactured chips used in Huawei's accelerators. Meanwhile, the Ascend 910C was found to contain older-generation high-speed memory, HBM2E, from Samsung and SK Hynix.

Huawei has long been under the spotlight of American politicians, dating back to Donald Trump's first term as president, when the US began a campaign to restrict China's semiconductor capabilities. In particular, the company was added to a list of entities subject to trade sanctions.

At the same time, Chinese authorities are looking to reduce their reliance on NVIDIA chips, and the Ascend 910C is seen as the strongest local alternative. Their deliveries began in early 2025, with access to foreign components from Samsung, TSMC, and SK Hynix playing a key role in the production of these processors.

Huawei managed to get a million chips from TSMC through an intermediary, Sophgo, which hid that it was reselling them to a Chinese manufacturer. TSMC then stopped working with Sophgo and informed the US government. However, by that time, Huawei had already accumulated about 2.9 million chips for Ascend chips, which would be enough to produce the 910C at least until the end of the year.

Recall that in September 2025, Huawei outlined its strategy for developing artificial intelligence and chip production to better compete with NVIDIA in the Chinese market.