Export controls failed to keep cutting-edge AI chips from China’s Huawei

U.S. Commerce Department investigating Huawei chipmaker's alleged breach of export controls.

Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company says it has not supplied Huawei since 2020 .

Commerce Department says it is constantly updating controls to address diversion tactics.

China 's attainment of advanced AI capabilities would be a military threat to the United States and its allies.

Micree Zhan was China ’s richest cryptocurrency billionaire in 2018 , with a personal fortune of $4 billion .

He co-founded Bitmain , a firm that designs crypto-mining chips, in 2013 .

Critics accuse him of working to help Huawei evade export controls, but it is also possible they were sold through an intermediary.

For the new administration, regardless of who is elected president next week , questions about the efficacy of the chip export controls will be front and center as they evaluate the future of China policy, particularly on private-sector compliance and public-sector enforcement. Paul Triolo , technology policy lead at Albright Stonebridge Group , said companies were trying to figure out what lengths they had to go to for due diligence: “The guidelines are murky.” Dou reported from Washington . Vic Chiang in Taipei , Taiwan , and Ellen Nakashima in Waimea , Hawaii , contributed to this report..