How TSMC and other firms making the most advanced semiconductors are getting a reprieve from Biden’s chip war on China

The waiver is “good news” for TSMC, as it allows the company to continue with expansion plans for its 28-nanometer chips in Nanjing, China, says Lucy Chen, vice president of Isaiah Research, a Taiwan-based tech-research firm.

And Washington may want to keep some foreign firms in China’s chip supply chain. If TSMC, Samsung, and others were blocked by U.S. sanctions, “demand would shift to local Chinese memory factories or semiconductor foundries,” Chen says. That would give the U.S. “less control and visibility” over China’s chip industry, she notes.