U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has raised doubts about Huawei's ability to mass-produce 7-nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) semiconductors developed in-house.
On the 19th (local time), Raimondo attended a hearing evaluating the Semiconductor Act after one year before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, stating, "We have no evidence that China can manufacture 7-nanometer chips on a large scale."
She said that when she visited China, Huawei had launched a new smartphone equipped with advanced semiconductors, and at that time she was "upset."
Earlier, Huawei released the 'Mate 60 Pro' smartphone equipped with its self-developed 7-nanometer semiconductor at the end of last month. As China succeeded in developing it independently despite U.S. semiconductor technology export controls, there has been controversy over whether U.S. sanctions were circumvented. The Department of Commerce is currently investigating the semiconductors installed in Huawei smartphones and how Huawei obtained those semiconductors.
Raimondo said, "I cannot speak specifically about any investigation, but I promise this: whenever we find credible evidence that any company has circumvented our export controls, we will investigate."
She emphasized that the U.S. is "using every available tool" to prevent China from acquiring intellectual property necessary for developing advanced technologies that could threaten U.S. national security.
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