US extends TSMC’s right to get chipmaking gear into China

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has received an extension to its exemption from US trade sanctions on China, allowing it to continue acquiring advanced chip equipment for its operations there.

The Taiwanese chipmaker expects eventually to win permanent US authorization to secure sophisticated machinery for its operations in the world’s largest semiconductor market, the company said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News. 

The waiver removes some of the uncertainty dogging the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, which has a modest campus in a Shanghai suburb and also operates a site in the southern Chinese city of Nanjing, making 16-nanometer chips, roughly four generations behind leading-edge technology.

The Bureau of Industry and Security, part of the US Department of Commerce that’s responsible for export controls, declined to comment on TSMC earlier this week and did not immediately respond to queries after the minister’s announcement.

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. have both been effectively granted an indefinite waiver on broader restrictions banning the shipment of advanced American chipmaking gear to China, South Korea’s presidential office said earlier this week.

Sweeping US regulations announced last October struck at the heart of Beijing’s tech ambitions but also cast uncertainty around foreign chipmakers in China, including TSMC and its South Korean peers. All three secured one-year waivers at the time, which let them import necessary equipment, but have since grappled with questions surrounding an extension. 

The Biden administration in late September also removed a stringent curb on expansion in China by semiconductor companies that get federal funds to build plants in the US. Both TSMC and Samsung are expected to secure US subsidies for their new facilities in the country.