The Kirin 9000S found in Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro 5G, would not have been possible without the involvement of SMIC, a Chinese chipmaker that leveraged its second-generation 7nm process to mass produce the SoC. However, one U.S. congressman believes that stricter sanctions should be placed on both SMIC and Huawei as the trade between them should not have happened.
SMIC should have obtained an export license before providing Huawei with Kirin 9000S shipments
The 7nm manufacturing process used to mass produce the Kirin 9000S lags behind the cutting-edge 3nm node from TSMC, but experts state that making the SoC for Huawei was a technological breakthrough because of the sanctions placed by the United States government. According to Bloomberg, Representative Michael McCaul states that SMIC should have obtained an export license from the U.S. before supplying the Kirin 9000S. Since it did not follow procedure, it has violated sanctions.
Mike Gallagher, another U.S. lawmaker, believes that tougher restrictions should be placed on Huawei and SMIC, with the barring of all technology exports to the smartphone maker, according to Reuters. Earlier, it was reported that SMIC could not even procure chip manufacturing equipment from Dutch manufacturer ASML, but it managed to circumvent these obstacles by tweaking simpler DUV machines.
“This chip likely could not be produced without US technology and thus SMIC may have violated the Department of Commerce’s Foreign Direct Product Rule. The time has come to end all U.S. technology exports to both Huawei and SMIC to make clear any firm that flouts U.S. law and undermines our national security will be cut off from our technology.”
Apart from the Kirin 9000S, Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro 5G features more components sourced from Chinese manufacturers, and with China banning government agency employees from using iPhones and other foreign technology, it is a clear sign that reliance on the U.S. is being reduced while propping up local firms to take charge. Huawei was added to a blacklist back in May 2019, while SMIC was put on the same list a year after.
This recent development will likely spark a debate amongst U.S. government officials on enforcing tighter restrictions, so it is unclear if this victory for the Chinese will be short-lived or if we are seeing a path being carved towards becoming an independent chip manufacturing powerhouse.
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