The U.S. Commerce Department has suspended licenses to sell components to SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker behind the success of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro 5G.
The Biden administration is increasing pressure on SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker, after Huawei regained the top spot in China’s smartphone market in the first two weeks of this year, according to South China Morning Post sources. .
Specifically, since the end of 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce has sent dozens of letters to domestic parts suppliers, announcing the suspension of licenses to sell parts to SMIC’s most advanced factories.
“This is obviously an act of economic bullying and will definitely be counterproductive. We call on the United States to stop exaggerating the concept of national security and stop abusing its power to suppress Chinese companies.”
The move is the latest move by the United States to weaken SMIC’s ability to produce complex chips for Huawei.
Huawei’s resurgence began with the surprise launch of the Mate 60 Pro 5G in August 2023.
The machine is equipped with a high-end Kiri900S processor independently developed and produced under U.S. technology sanctions, as well as the HarmonyOS mobile platform that replaces Android.
The move surprised the international technology community, as the Chinese company is subject to a U.S. embargo and is unable to obtain new process architecture and advanced lithography equipment.
Previously, Huawei’s most modern chip version was the Redmi 9000S model manufactured by SMIC using a 7-nanometer process.
Despite a series of U.S. bans, mobile phones quickly sparked a craze in the country of billions of people, marking China’s tech renaissance.