About two weeks ago, TSMC suspended shipments to the client and began a detailed investigation, the trade and economic official said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. discovered this month that chips it made for a specific customer ended up with Huawei Technologies Co., a potential violation of US sanctions intended to sever the flow of technology to a Chinese national champion.

International media reports said that Canada-based research firm TechInsights recently discovered an Ascend 910B chip manufactured by TSMC while taking apart Huawei’s highest-end artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators. The Ascend 910B chip is considered the Chinese company’s most advanced AI chip.