The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — US orders largest Taiwanese chip producer to halt Chinese sales
The Department of Commerce has ordered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to stop sending smart chips of 7 nanometers or more to Chinese companies, effective Nov. 11, according to Reuters. The decision comes after research firm Tech Insights took apart Huawei’s Ascend 910B AI processor and found TSMC-produced chips inside.
Huawei, whose former CFO admitted to “misleading global financial institutions” in 2021, is on a trade-restricted list. Though TSMC is an independent company based in Taiwan, the Department of Commerce has jurisdiction since American companies like Nvidia, Apple and Intel own the designs of the chips. The production of them is then offshored to TSMC, a model that has driven Congress to start developing infrastructure for chip production domestically.
Reuters was unable to determine how a TSMC chip ended up in the Ascend 910B that Tech Insights took apart. There has been no comment from the Department of Commerce or TSMC as of Monday morning. The story has also been reported in Chinese media outlets.
Similar regulations were imposed in 2022 when the Commerce Department sent letters to Nvidia as well as three U.S.-based companies about halting the sales of different types of chip development and semiconductor tools to Chinese companies.
Part 2 — This Week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, Nov. 11 — Veteran’s Day holiday
Tuesday, Nov. 12
- NFIB optimism index, Oct.
Wednesday, Nov. 13
- Consumer price index, Oct.
- CPI year over year
- Core CPI, Oct.
- Core CPI year over year
- Monthly U.S. federal budget, Oct.
Thursday, Nov. 14
- Initial jobless claims, week of Nov. 9
- Producer price index, Oct.
- PPI year over year
- Core PPI, Oct.
- Core PPI year over year
- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks
Friday, Nov. 15
- Import price index, Oct.
- Empire State Manufacturing survey, Nov.
- U.S. retail sales, Oct.
- Industrial production, Oct.
- Business inventories, Sept.
Part 3 — Data in decision making, Milo’s Hamburgers’ CFO, how CFOs can drive change
This week we have a story on how data and analytics can help drive CFO decision-making in tight times (11/12), a Q&A with Milo’s Hamburgers CFO Alex Holt (11/14), a story on how CFOs can collaborate and drive change with insight from Strategos founder Gary Hamel, Harvard leadership and management Professor Amy Edmonson, former CEO of AT&T Business Anne Chow and Nick Araco Jr. of the CFO Alliance (11/15) and more.
