The hypersonic missile DF-17 owned by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. When it was confirmed that a chip made by Taiwan’s TSMC was used in a Chinese military supercomputer that controls the missile, the US Department of Commerce listed seven blacklisted companies, including Chinese chip design companies. TSMC is protesting that it had no knowledge of the possibility that the chip would be used in China’s weapons of mass destruction system. There is a growing burden that Samsung Electronics and TSMC have to play the role of’police’ as a watchdog in the global semiconductor supply chain.
This is because the US administration of Joe Biden has blacklisted Chinese semiconductor design companies for the first time, taking the risk of exclusive use of weapons of mass destruction.
When a production request for a high-performance semiconductor drawing designed by a Chinese company comes in, Samsung Electronics and TSMC will have to closely look into the possibility that the chip will be converted for military use in the future.
This means that the pressure from the US to “cover and accept customers (from China)” is increasing significantly.
■Designated as a’blacklist’, a Chinese semiconductor design company, after a storm
On the 8th (local time), the U.S. Department of Commerce was listed on a’blacklist’ banning the transactions of goods and services with US technology against 7 Chinese companies and research institutes.
The listing on this list is expected to be more political pressure on Samsung Electronics (Korea) and TSMC (Taiwan) than the same sanctions were imposed by Trump administrations such as Huawei in the past.
The reason is that the Biden administration has confirmed that for the first time in China’s development of the’weapons of mass destruction (WMD)’, ultra-high-performance semiconductors produced by Taiwan’s TSMC were introduced.
As is well known, only Samsung Electronics and TSMC in the world have the capability to produce semiconductors designed by Chinese customers through ultra-fine processes based on several nanometers (nm).
Among the seven companies announced by the US Department of Commerce, the companies that the semiconductor industry pays attention to are Chinese semiconductor design companies called’Pitium’ and’Sunway’.
These two companies are companies in charge of design only without semiconductor production facilities, and are engaged in designing chips for supercomputers as their main business.
However, according to an investigation by the US Department of Commerce, the final destination of the Pitium-designed chip was the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, which was installed on a supercomputer that controls hypersonic missiles.
A view of the supercomputer facility made by Sunway, one of the companies listed in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s blacklisted companies this time. ■It means that US technology has been put into the development of Chinese hypersonic missiles.
In the case summary, Pitium first knocked on the door of Taiwanese semiconductor company R-Chip to create a drawing of the high-performance chip it designed.
R-Chip first requested production, and R-Chip finally consigned to TSMC, which has ultra-fine process facilities capable of handling this design production.
Of course, TSMC made it and participated without knowing that the chip would be used in China’s hypersonic missile control computing.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said that the Pitium, which received the completed chip, could be used to make a Chinese hypersonic missile (DF-17) with a speed of Mach 5 or higher while providing it to the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center (CARDC) connected to the People’s Liberation Army. This is the final announcement.
In the sense that the technology of American companies such as Applied Materials is put together in the advanced process of TSMC in Taiwan, it means that the advanced technology of the United States was exploited for the development of advanced weapons in China.
■China and US easily neutralize’blacklist’ sanctions
The facts revealed in this case are very painful for the United States. This is because loopholes have been revealed in the surveillance network with China, which has been continuously strengthening.
Earlier, the US had been listed as a blacklisted company in 1999 against the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center.
However, this investigation revealed that the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center was using high-performance chips with US technology without worrying about blacklisting.
Second, it is the fact that in the process of entrusting the production of chips to Taiwan, China made a deal with a Taiwanese company equivalent to the’Middle Man’ (in this case,’R-Chip’).
R-Chip, who was accused of’arrangement’ for weapon semiconductors between Pitium and TSMC, claims that “there was a clause in the supply contract with Pitium, saying that it is not used as a weapon.”
Regardless of the reason, the more a Chinese company inserts several Taiwanese companies into the transaction stage as a’middleman’, the more difficult it is to determine whether the chip is for military use.
Homepage screen of Taiwanese R-Chip Corporation, which played the role of a’middle man’ in a transaction between a Chinese company and TSMC in Taiwan in a semiconductor transaction dedicated to China’s hypersonic missile system. In the foundry customer that R-Chip requests production, Samsung Electronics in Korea along with TSMC is listed as a customer. R-Chip claims that at the time of signing a contract with China’s Pitium, there was an explicit provision that the chip would not be used for military purposes. Conflict between the US and China presses the role of’police’ on Samsung and TSMC
The semiconductor industry is assessed that there are only two global foundry companies that can meet the demand for custom production of Chinese ultra-high-performance semiconductor chip design companies, and that the two companies will be burdened with more detailed verification of the demand for design and production from China in the future. I’m doing it.
Mark Lee, senior research analyst at Sanford Bernstein, a market analyst firm, said in relation to the incident, “TSMC is not in a position to suspend supply contracts when Pitium is not blacklisted.” Pointed out the complexity.
“There is no reason for TSMC to act as a police officer for the United States,” he added. “This is something politicians have to decide.”
In the case of TSMC, publicly, “we do not accept all orders for the production of semiconductors that could be used militaryly, whether in the US or China.”
On the other hand, in response to the US’s designation of a new blacklisted company, a Chinese state media said on the 9th that “mosquitoes are nothing more than biting,” and a series of blacklisted listings will provide a motive for encouraging China’s high-tech R&D. Criticized.
In this regard, China is visualizing retaliation in line with the U.S. blacklist measures, such as banning the use of Tesla vehicles in the U.S. during the work of government, military, and public corporations last month.
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