US 'Shocked' by Huawei's New Product... Were Sanctions Ineffective?

The American daily newspaper The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 2nd (local time) that Huawei's 'Mate 60 Pro,' released on the 29th of last month, "has raised concerns among U.S. officials that American sanctions have failed to stop China's advancement in core technologies."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Huawei made a surprise announcement of its latest premium smartphone coinciding with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo's visit to China.

WP stated, "The Mate 60 Pro uses a 7-nanometer process semiconductor produced domestically in China," adding, "This suggests that the U.S. intention to block the import and production of advanced semiconductors to slow progress in new fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data has not been effective."

However, Huawei unusually did not disclose key features such as which processor was used or what generation of mobile communication the device supports when unveiling the latest smartphone.

Nevertheless, China's state-run English-language channel CGTN, under China Central Television (CCTV), reported that the Mate 60 Pro is equipped with a 'top-tier processor' for the first time since the U.S. sanctions on Huawei in 2019, and that the Chinese semiconductor company SMIC (Zhongxin Guoji) produced the semiconductor used in the Mate 60 Pro.

Industry sources reported that the Mate 60 Pro uses a 5th generation mobile communication (5G) chip. Some buyers said that benchmark test results showed the Mate 60 Pro performed at a level comparable to other latest 5G smartphones.

U.S. experts reacted that the very fact that Huawei was able to design and produce advanced semiconductors independently despite the U.S.'s high-intensity sanctions is shocking. Regarding this, Paul Triolo, Senior Vice President of the consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group, analyzed, "It shows that even without U.S. technology, it is possible to design and produce products with considerable performance, if not at the level of the West's most advanced models," adding, "This has significant geopolitical implications."

Meanwhile, Huawei abruptly began pre-orders for the 'Huawei Mate 60 Pro' model on its official online store starting at noon on the 29th of last month.