TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Four semiconductor makers from Taiwan provided data requested by the United States government, but their level of openness about the information varied widely, reports said Friday (Nov. 19).

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has asked for information deemed confidential about semiconductor makers’ inventories, lead times, clients and suppliers, to understand the roots of the current global chip shortage.

In Taiwan, the four main producers that responded to the U.S. call were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. (VIS), and Powerchip Technology Corp.

However, the four companies took a different approach toward the questions asked by the U.S. authorities, TV station EBC reported. Powerchip was reportedly the most complete, filling out all the spaces for replies on the form supplied by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Most companies limited themselves to offering data about their production capacity, production figures from the three most recent years, and the nature of their most popular products, EBC reported.