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Taipei restricts China chip sales to appease the US

Oct 16, 2026, 7:07am EDT
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Semiconductor chips on a printed circuit board
Florence Lo/Reuters

Taiwan is set to tighten controls on selling cutting-edge AI chips to China in order to win favor with the US, though breakthroughs by Chinese firms suggest Washington’s efforts to contain their development are failing. The latest move by Taipei — a central node in global semiconductor manufacturing — is a significant step in curtailing black market sales to Chinese companies seeking to bypass US curbs.

China’s own firms appear to be making headway in building up their own capacity, however: Though US companies are still seen as leading on chip design, Chinese ones are increasingly taking domestic AI-chip market share from US giant Nvidia, Reuters reported, with Huawei in particular passing key milestones in recent days.

Chart showing share of Taiwan’s shipments of integrated circuits and data processing units
— Prashant Rao
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