The American government announces that it wants to act in the strongest possible way after the release of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro last August. What explains such a reaction?
THE American governmentthrough the Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, explains that theHuawei’s technological breakthrough in mobile chips is “deeply disturbing”. To understand these words, we have to go back a few years, to 2019 to be precise. At this moment, Donald Trump is the president of the United States. In May, he signed an executive order prohibiting American telecommunications companies from dealing with foreign entities deemed “at risk”. None are named, but the Chinese manufacturer Huawei is clearly in the sights. The firm also ended up on the blacklist.
This is a hard blow for Huawei which can no longer count on the import of components and machines in order to manufacture 5G smartphones. The models released subsequently such as the P50 series or the Mate 50 include a Qualcomm chiptherefore American, but modified to not be able to receive 5G. Knowing that Huawei still had to obtain prior authorization. The embargo also resulted in the removal of Google services on the brand’s mobilesforcing it to develop its own operating system, HarmonyOS.
Huawei illegally circumvents US sanctions according to Republicans
Despite all the measures taken by the United States, Huawei seems to find a way to get past it. To make your own 5G chipsthe firm needs lithography machines, most of the time protected by American patents. She then hired former employees of the specialized Dutch company ASML.
Huawei thus recovers DUV machines (Deep Ultraviolet Lithography) and creates the HiSilicon Kirin 9000S 7nm processor by partnering with the Chinese company Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). We find the chip in the Mate 60 Pro released in August 2023, and it’s a 5G smartphone. Theoretically, this should not have been possible.
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This is why the United States is concerned: according to the government, Huawei deliberately violated US measures to achieve 5G chip creation. But is this really the case? The question is complex and depends on the millimeter.in the literal sense.
Technically, EUV machine manufacturers (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) are prohibited from supplying them to China. These are the machines which are used to manufacture the 3 or 4nm chips, which we find in the Pixel 8 or the iPhone 15 for example. On the other hand, exporting DUV machines to the Middle Kingdom is generally allowed. They are limited to an engraving fineness of 7nm.
The United States wants to take strong measures against Huawei
The Republicans have no use for these considerations and call on the Secretary of Commerce to launch a formal investigation. Gina Raimondo neither confirmed nor denied the initiation of a procedure: “we have to collect information. So at this point, all I will say is that this is concerning and we will take all the strongest possible measures to protect America,” she told reporters.
For its part, China sees it as yet another way of slow down the country in its technological development. Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, believes that “the United States has repeatedly abused export control measures, which is not in the interests of global and industrial supply chains” . The Republicans want Huawei and SMIC, which manufactured the chip, to can no longer obtain supplies from American companies at all. A total embargo in short.
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At this stage, it is difficult to predict what will happen. All eyes are also on the Dutch company ASML. When Gina Raimondo is asked if a collaboration is being considered as part of a potential investigation, she jumps in. If there is an investigation, “we would speak with our allies, we would speak with the companies, we would speak with our sources on the ground, etc.” The Secretary specifies, however: “we are in fairly regular contact with the Netherlands and with ASML because they are our partners in these export controls. I talk to them quite regularly, not just about this [possible] investigation”.
Source: Bloomberg