Despite Huawei been on US trade restriction list since 2019, the Chinese giant launched Mate 60 series and was much appreciated by the industry
Staff Report
Bengaluru: The chip powering Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro is not as advanced as American chips, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes”.
“It shows the US curbs on shipments to the telecoms equipment giant are working. What it tells me is the export controls are working because that chip is not nearly as good, … it’s years behind what we have in the US. We have the most sophisticated semiconductors in the world. China doesn’t,” she said.
Despite Huawei been on US trade restriction list since 2019, the Chinese giant launched Mate 60 series and was much appreciated by the industry and that device has seen Huawei’s shipments in China rocket.
Washington has been locked in a years-long effort to deprive Beijing of advanced semiconductor chips and the tools needed to make them over concerns they would be used to strengthen China’s military capabilities.
Huawei, a symbol of that tech war, was added to the so-called entity-list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans, forcing its US suppliers to seek a difficult-to-obtain license to ship to it.
When asked if she was tough enough on big business, Raimondo was emphatic.
“I hold businesses 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 love that, but I do that,” she added.
The Huawei phone also prompted a review by the Biden administration to learn the details behind the chip that powers it, the most advanced semiconductor China has so far produced. But details of the review have been scant.
