US congressmen suspect SMIC of supplying Huawei with US-made 7nm chips for the Mate 60 Pro smartphone
US congressmen believe that Chinese company SMIC may have bypassed sanctions to supply Huawei with 7nm chips for the Mate 60 Pro smartphone. The new flagship is believed to use a 7nm processor manufactured by SMIC.
Here's What We Know
Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, visited the Netherlands and said that SMIC appears to have violated US sanctions. After this statement, the shares of the Chinese company on the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong fell by 8.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively.
At the same time, House of Representatives member Mike Gallagher made a more radical statement. The chairman of the House Select Committee on Competition with China believes that the U.S. should completely ban technology exports not only for Huawei, but also for SMIC. Moreover, the ban should apply even to old technologies that are not currently subject to restrictions.
Mike Gallagher believes that the 7nm chip used in the Huawei Mate 60 Pro probably could not have been created without the use of American technology. If that's the case, SMIC has violated U.S. Department of Commerce regulations.