Plans for new measures by the United States could threaten the supply of 14-nanometer chips by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to China’s Huawei, reports said Wednesday (December 25).

Huawei has been accused by several countries of maintaining close ties to China’s military establishment and of functioning as an arm of the communist government, leading to its 5G and other electronic systems becoming the focus of suspicions.

The Trump Administration was preparing a maximum limit of 10 percent U.S. technology for products to be supplied to Huawei, the Liberty Times reported Wednesday (December 25). If the limit was imposed, TSMC products might be affected, the newspaper added.

Asked for a comment on the likelihood of such a restriction, TSMC said that at present, the U.S. had not changed its rules. The company would not answer questions about purely hypothetical situations, according to the Liberty Times.

Of TSMC chips, the 7-nm products only contain for 9 percent U.S. technology or parts, so they would not pose a problem, but for the 14-nm semiconductors, the U.S. content rises to 15 percent.

In the event the U.S. does go ahead with its plans, Huawei could either choose to buy 14-nm chips from China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) or switch to 7-nm or even 5-nm products from TSMC, reports said.