TSMC's semiconductor plant in Nanjing, China. Yonhap News.

The U.S. administration of Donald Trump has revoked the comprehensive permit for TSMC, a Taiwanese semiconductor company, to import U.S. semiconductor equipment to its Chinese plant, Bloomberg News reported on the 2nd (local time).

According to the report, U.S. government officials recently notified TSMC of the decision to withdraw the 'Verified End User' (VEU) status for TSMC's Nanjing plant in China.

VEU is a type of comprehensive permit granted by the U.S. government for the export of designated items only to pre-approved companies.

Thanks to its VEU designation, TSMC's Nanjing plant had been exempt from obtaining individual permits when importing U.S. semiconductor equipment into China, which the U.S. government has controlled for export to China since October 2022.

In a statement, TSMC said, "TSMC has been notified by the U.S. government that the VEU permit for our Nanjing facility will be revoked effective December 31, 2025. We are fully committed to ensuring the uninterrupted operation of our Nanjing facility while we evaluate the situation and take appropriate actions, including engaging with the U.S. government."

Previously, on the 29th of last month, the U.S. government announced that it would also revoke the VEU designation for the Chinese plants of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Consequently, starting next year, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will also need to apply for individual permits from the U.S. government when importing semiconductor equipment subject to U.S. export controls to their Chinese plants.

The Department of Commerce officially published the decision to revoke the VEU designation for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the Federal Register on the same day.

However, in the case of TSMC, as the Trump administration did not initially publish the VEU designation itself in the Federal Register, there was no need to amend the existing VEU list through the Federal Register when revoking the VEU designation this time, unlike Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, Bloomberg explained.

Nevertheless, the impact on TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix is the same in that they will now have to obtain U.S. government permission to import items subject to export controls to their Chinese plants.

Sources told Bloomberg that U.S. government officials are trying to find solutions to ease the administrative burden on companies, given the current backlog of license applications.

According to Bloomberg, TSMC's production volume in China is not as large compared to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which conduct a significant portion of their overall production in China.

The Nanjing plant, which began production in 2018, accounted for only a small part of TSMC's total revenue last year. This plant produces 16nm semiconductors, a technology that has been commercialized for over a decade.

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