As we all know, Huawei is one of the most advanced network communication operators in the world, with the highest attainments in the field of 5G, and has received 90 orders for 5G network construction in the world, far exceeding the orders obtained by other 5G operators such as Nokia and Ericsson. In the eyes of the United States, Huawei has long been a thorn in its side, so in 2020, it began to impose comprehensive sanctions on Huawei, especially Huawei's mobile phone business. The United States stopped TSMC, Samsung and other chip foundries from providing chips to Huawei, but they did not expect that this move not only did not bring Huawei down, but allowed Huawei to develop something new.
It is understood that Huawei has developed its own high-end chips this year, popularized its own Hongmeng system, and has almost achieved localized chip research and development. This situation has caused a major impact on chip foundries such as TSMC and Qualcomm. As we all know, TSMC was Huawei's most important chip supplier before, and all Kirin chips were foundry in TSMC, and Huawei provided TSMC with no less orders than Apple's every year. However, under the order of the United States, TSMC's financial route was completely cut off. Originally, TSMC predicted that the day the U.S. ban was lifted would be the time for TSMC and Huawei to resume cooperation. But unexpectedly, Huawei actually realized the independent research and development of chips.
You know, TSMC is the only company in the world with 80 EUV lithography machines, and under the care of Huawei, Apple, Nvidia and other companies, TSMC's 80 EUV lithography machines can be reasonably used and bring a lot of benefits to TSMC. However, since TSMC cut off the supply to Huawei, TSMC's chip production capacity has been under excess pressure. Without Huawei's orders, TSMC's revenue has fallen sharply, and in order to maintain its livelihood, TSMC has significantly reduced the price of 7nm chips, which can be said to be a clearance process.
It is worth mentioning that in order to gain the trust of the U.S. market in 2022, TSMC took the initiative to spend $100 billion to build a factory in the United States to invest, bringing 5nm chip production capacity and 3nm chip production capacity to the U.S. semiconductor market. However, the U.S. market failed to give TSMC a corresponding return, which led to a lot of losses on TSMC's investment. This made TSMC make this decision and decided to sell the 7nm chips it was once proud of.
As we all know, the huge chip market in China is well known, and since TSMC does not cherish it, it will inevitably be TSMC that suffers. In the final analysis, we should also thank TSMC, if it wasn't for TSMC cutting off Huawei's supply, Huawei would not have realized the independent research and development of chips so quickly and made such a great contribution to China's semiconductor field. In this regard, foreign media said that there is no regret medicine to take in this world, and TSMC is really losing a lot this time.