WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The chip that powers sanctioned Chinese company Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro phone is not as advanced as U.S. chips, according to the U.S. Commerce Secretary. Gina Raimondo ” said Sunday, arguing that this shows that U.S. restrictions on shipments to the telecommunications equipment giant are working.
Huawei, which has been on a trade restriction list since 2019, surprised the industry and the US government by launching a new phone powered by a sophisticated chip last August. The Huawei Mate 60 Pro was seen as a symbol of China’s technological resurgence despite Washington’s continued efforts to cripple its ability to produce advanced semiconductors.
It was also seen by many as an affront to Raimondo, who was visiting China at the time of its release. But in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Raimondo argued against that view.
“What that tells me is that the export controls are working because this chip is not as good… it’s years behind what we have in the United States,” he said. she declared. “We have the most sophisticated semiconductors in the world.” This is not the case for China. »
Washington has been engaged for years in an effort to deprive Beijing of advanced semiconductor chips and the tools needed to make them, fearing they could be used to boost China’s military capabilities.
Huawei, a symbol of this technological war, was added to the entity list in 2019 over concerns that it could spy on Americans, forcing its American suppliers to seek a hard-to-obtain license to ship products there.
But its suppliers, including Intel, received licenses worth billions of dollars to continue selling to the company. Huawei’s reveal of its first AI-enabled laptop with an Intel chip this month has fueled anger among China’s Republican hardliners.
When asked if she was tough enough on big business, Raimondo was emphatic.
“I hold corporations accountable as much as anyone,” she told Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes.” “When I tell them they can’t sell their semiconductors to China, they don’t like it, but I do it,” she added.
The Huawei phone has also prompted a review by the Biden administration for details of the chip that powers it, the most advanced semiconductor China has produced so far. But details of the review are scarce.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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