TSMC and other chipmakers are barred from doing business with Huawei without exemptions from the US government.

In May 2019, the US Commerce Department put Huawei and its 70 affiliates on its so-called Entity List on national security grounds. In the same year, the Dutch government banned the exports of ASML's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines to China due to diplomatic pressure from the US.

Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC halted shipments to a customer this month after its semiconductors were sent to China's Huawei, a Taipei government official told AFP, potentially breaching US sanctions.