Some House Republicans believe the Commerce Department should stop all technology exports to Huawei and SMIC.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said there was no evidence that Chinese manufacturer Huawei could produce smartphones or smartphones with advanced chips in large quantities.
Huawei recently started selling a phone called the Mate 60 Pro that contains a chip that analysts believe was created with a technological breakthrough from SMIC, Reuters reports.
“We have no evidence that they can make seven-nanometer scale chips,” Raimondo said at a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives, referring to an advanced chip.
The Commerce Department said earlier this month that it was working to obtain more information “about the character and composition” of the chip, which may violate trade restrictions. Raimondo said at the House Science Committee hearing that she was upset about the advanced report on Huawei smartphones.
Some Republicans believe the Commerce Department should stop all technology exports to Huawei and SMIC. Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said at the hearing that Raimondo was in China when the new Huawei phone was announced.
“They were surprised, to say the least, by the launch of a 5G phone,” Issa said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier this month that the US government was trying to get more information about the Huawei chip.
