After TSMC, U.S. considers investigating Huawei-SMIC chip ties

After the TSMC case, the U.S. considers investigating Huawei-SMIC chip ties. A new report highlights that the foreign authorities have become even more cautious following the recent discovery of a Taiwanese SoC in the Huawei Ascend 910B chip.

Michael McCaul – a U.S. representative demanded Commerce Department investigate Huawei and SMIC bonds. He believes that the latter is illegally developing chips for the Chinese tech giant, breaching the foreign export regulations.

U.S. has banned both Huawei and SMIC from accessing advanced tools for semiconductor manufacturing. But still, both firms managed to build new 5G chips.

Kirin 9000s 5G (7nm) for Mate 60 Pro is the perfect example of this case. Although it ultimately raised concerns over US national security. Since SMIC is currently the major foundry for making Huawei chips, the US is planning to investigate it.

Michael says that the Commerce Department’s BIS (Bureau of Industry and Security) did not take any action when Huawei tried to violate the export controls. But it’s time to check all loopholes and patch them up with better probes and regulations.

“There is growing evidence that SMIC is violating US export control laws. If China doesn’t agree to a comprehensive audit of all SMIC facilities and its books, BIS should pause all existing licenses for SMIC immediately.” – Michael McCaul.

He further added that SMIC is helping Huawei and China surpass the US in the AI field. New phone chips and Ascend processors act as a smoking gun for breaching trade rules.

After the TSMC-Huawei investigating case, the U.S. has now turned heads to SMIC chip products. Looking at these probes, the Chinese embassy says that the foreign government is unnecessarily stretching the security topic to pressure Chinese firms.

Years ago, Huawei mentioned that is it a private firm and has nothing to do with the Chinese military attacks. It ensures full security and privacy of users’ data. Yet, the U.S. put it behind the sanction bars and continued to press it to date.

After TSMC, U.S. considers investigating Huawei-SMIC chip ties (Image Credits: SMIC)

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