TSMC hesitant to share supply chain information with U.S. government

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is hesitant to fulfill a request from the U.S. government regarding the company’s supply chain. The U.S. government has sent out questionnaires to several chip makers to help fix the ongoing global chip shortage. TSMC expressed concerns over customer privacy and trade secrets (via Nikkei Asia).

“We will definitely not leak our company’s sensitive information, especially that related to our customers,” said Sylvia Fang, TSMC’s general counsel. “We are still at the stage of doing some preliminary research and evaluating the contents of the questionnaire.”

Chipmakers, including TSMC, have until November 8, 2021 (45 days from when given the questionnaire) to voluntarily provide information to the U.S. Government. The companies are expected to share information regarding key customers, production capacity, and inventories.

If TSMC and others don’t voluntarily provide information, the U.S. government could take more drastic action. After a meeting with chip makers, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the Biden administration could resort to Cold War-era national security tactics.

“What I told them is, ‘I don’t want to have to do anything compulsory but if they don’t comply, then they’ll leave me no choice,'” said Raimondo to Bloomberg. “I said today we’re evaluating all of our options right now, all the tools. I hope not to go there but we need to see some progress and we definitely need compliance.”