The United States plans to strengthen export restrictions on AI chips, and TSMC and other wafer factories face challenges

The US government plans to further tighten its AI chip sales policy, expanding the scope of regulation from the existing 7nm to 16nm. It is reported that this move may affect the operations of wafer fabs such as TSMC. 16nm chips are mainly used in high-performance computing, data centers, and artificial intelligence. In the global chip foundry market in the third quarter of 2023, chips manufactured with 16nm, 14nm, and 12nm processes accounted for 13% of the market share. With the advancement of technology and the evolution of market demand, the application prospects of 16nm chips are broad.