US officials to visit Taiwan to explain chip curbs, minister says

TAIPEI (Reuters): U.S. officials plan to visit Taiwan to explain to companies details of new curbs, primarily aimed at China, on advanced chip exports, the island’s economy minister said on Monday.

The Biden administration in October said it plans to halt shipments to China of more advanced artificial intelligence chips designed by Nvidia and others, as part of measures to try to stop Beijing from receiving U.S. technologies to strengthen its military.

Taiwan, home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW), and many other semiconductor firms, has its own restrictions on what can go to China, which claims the democratically-governed island as its own territory.

Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said some details of the extremely long new U.S. rules needed explanation.

“We think that them (the U.S.) coming to Taiwan, to explain things to companies, getting a face-to-face understanding of the thinking of U.S. enforcement agencies, having on site communication on the details, is something Taiwan needs,” she told reporters.

Given the concentration of chip making in Taiwan it was “advantageous” for Taiwanese companies to hear the details of the new controls from the U.S. officials, Wang said.

Taiwan’s official Central News Agency said the U.S. officials, who it did not name, would visit Taiwan next month and hold events in the chip hubs of Hsinchu and Tainan.

The U.S. Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment outside business hours.