By Stephen Nellis
(Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department should end all technology sales to Huawei and China’s top semiconductor company after it found new chips in cellphones that could violate trade deals, it said. by the chairman of the Chinese House of Representatives committee on Wednesday.
The comments from Rep. Mike Gallagher, a prominent Republican congressman whose nominating committee urged the Biden administration to take a stronger stance on exporting American technology to China, came as the sale began. The Chinese electronics company Huawei last week released a phone called the Mate 60 Pro. The phone has a chip that the researchers believe was made in a technological process by Semiconductor International Manufacturing Corp (SMIC).
“This horn apparently could not have been produced without American technology and therefore SMIC may have violated the Foreign Trade Act,” Gallagher said in a statement. “The time has come to end all U.S. technology sales to Huawei and SMIC to ensure that any company that violates U.S. laws and undermines our national security will be cut off from our technology. .”
Huawei was placed on the trade blacklist in May 2019 due to national security concerns, forcing its US companies and others to obtain a special license to ship products there. The SMIC was added to the so-called list of companies in December 2020, due to the fear that the technology could threaten military personnel.
The trade restrictions imposed on Huawei and SMIC include the Foreign Direct Trade Act which prohibits any company anywhere the world from using equipment from the United States to produce a ship for Huawei.
But the suppliers to Huawei and SMIC have received billions of dollars in licenses to sell American technology to companies even though they are on trading lists, Reuters previously reported. About 90% of the licenses were sold to SMIC.
The US Commerce Department office that oversees export controls did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler)
