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Huawei managed to upset quite a few people in the US government, it seems. The US Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, finds Huawei’s chip progress “incredibly disturbing”, Bloomberg reports.
The US Commerce Secretary sees Huawei’s chip progress as “incredibly disturbing”
According to the report, Raimondo thinks that her department needs more ways to control things. She believes that more tools are needed to enforce an export-control regime.
While talking to a Senate Commerce Committee, she said that “different tools” are needed, while clarifying that “additional resources around enforcement” are required.
She basically highlighted a stalled legislative proposal that would expand her department’s authority over technology transactions. Well, it would do that only for technology transactions that are found to pose national security risks.
The Kirin 9000s SoC managed to ruffle some feathers in the US
Raimondo did not share any information on her probe into a new Huawei smartphone which is fueled by the chip in question. As a reminder, the Huawei Mate 60 series, and the Mate X5, are all fueled by the Kirin 9000s, Huawei’s new 7nm processor.
That processor was made by SMIC, and it seemingly doesn’t break any restrictions put in place by the US. The two companies managed to go around all that. The US found that hard to believe, which is why they’re investigating the issue.
Raimondo did mention the largest-ever fine that her department imposed earlier this year. That fine has to do with selling items to Huawei without a license. She also added that her department is as “tough as it needs to be”, but that it “needs more resources”.
It’s also worth noting that, last month, Raimondo said that she sees no evidence Huawei can develop advanced 7-nanometer chips at scale. Still, she believes that the controls need to be tightened as soon as possible.
This situation definitely does not help the US-China relations, which the two countries are attempting to improve.