April 8 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (2330.TW) 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.
From the article, it sounds like TSMC’s part in this was just negligence as Huawei used a front company to make the order for them — like a 14-year-old getting an adult to make a booze purchase. If they get fined, it seems unlikely it would be for the maximum amount.