US Republican lawmakers on Friday criticized the Biden administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms giant Huawei unveiled laptops this week equipped with Intel AI chips.
In 2019, the United States placed Huawei on a trade restriction list for violating sanctions against Iran as part of a broader effort to hinder Beijing’s technological progress. Being on the list means the company’s suppliers must obtain special licenses, which are difficult to obtain, before shipping.
One such license issued by the Trump administration allows Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops starting in 2020. China’s hardliners had called on the Biden administration to revoke the license, but many reluctantly accepted that it would expire later this year. Not updated.
Huawei on Thursday unveiled its first AI-enabled laptop, the MateBook This shocked and angered Huawei.
“One of the biggest mysteries in Washington, D.C., is why the Commerce Department is allowing the export of U.S. technology to Huawei,” Republican Rep. Michael Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, told Reuters. The question is whether it continues.”
Sources said the chips were shipped under an existing license. They are not subject to recent large-scale restrictions on AI chip shipments to China, this source and another person said.
The Commerce Department and Intel declined to comment. Huawei did not respond to requests for comment.
The reaction is a sign of growing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to stop Huawei’s rise, nearly five years after it was added to the trade restriction list. It is.
In August, the US government’s continued efforts to cripple its ability to produce advanced semiconductors shocked the world with new mobile phones powered by sophisticated chips made by sanctioned Chinese chipmaker SMIC. Despite its efforts, it became a symbol of China’s technological resurgence.
At a Senate subcommittee hearing this week, export enforcement official Kevin Kurland said the U.S. government’s restrictions on Huawei are having a “significant impact” on access to U.S. technology. He also stressed that the goal is not necessarily to stop Huawei’s growth, but to prevent Huawei from misusing American technology for “malicious activities.”
But the remarks did little to quell frustration among Republican China hawks following news of Huawei’s new laptops.
“These approvals must stop,” Republican Representative Michael McCaul said in a statement to Reuters. “Two years ago, we were told that our license to Huawei would be suspended. It appears that policy has not changed.”
