Following Huawei’s announcement this week of a laptop equipped with an Intel AI chip, the embattled Chinese telecom equipment company came under fire from Republican U.S. legislators on Friday, criticizing the Biden administration.
2019 saw the US add Huawei to a list of companies subject to trade restrictions for breaking Iranian sanctions, as part of a larger attempt to impede Beijing’s technical advancements. Being placed on the list requires suppliers to apply for a unique, challenging-to-obtain license before shipping to the company.
A license of this kind, granted by the Trump administration, permits Intel to supply core processors to Huawei for laptop use starting in 2020. Although pro-China activists pushed the Biden administration to cancel the license, many reluctantly agreed that it would expire at the end of the current year and not be extended.
The MateBook X Pro, Huawei’s first AI-enabled laptop, which was unveiled on Thursday and is powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processor, startled and infuriated them since it seemed to imply that shipments of the new chip to Huawei had been allowed by the Commerce Department.
Laptops 1000Republican Congressman Michael Gallagher, the chairman of the House of Representatives special committee on China, said that “one of the greatest mysteries in Washington, DC is why the Department of Commerce continues to allow U.S. technology to be shipped to Huawei.”
The chips were supplied under an existing license and they are not affected by the recent sweeping limitations on the sales of AI chips to China.
Intel and the Department of Commerce both declined to comment. Remarks were not immediately answered by Huawei.
The response, coming almost five years after Huawei was placed on a list of companies subject to trade restrictions, indicates mounting pressure on the Biden administration to take more measures to impede the company’s ascent.
It stunned the world in August by releasing a new phone that used a cutting-edge chip made by the banned Chinese company SMIC. This phone has now come to represent China’s technological comeback, even in the face of Washington’s continuous attempts to sabotage its ability to develop cutting-edge semiconductors.
Export enforcement official Kevin Kurland stated this week during a Senate subcommittee hearing that Huawei’s access to U.S. technology has been “significantly impacted” by Washington’s limitations on the company.
Laptops 1000The aim, he emphasized, was not so much to stop Huawei from expanding as it was to prevent it from abusing American technology for “malign activities.”
However, Republican China hawks were not deterred by the words after learning about Huawei’s new laptop.
Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican, said that “these approvals must stop.” “I was told licenses to Huawei will cease two years ago. It appears that the policy hasn’t changed as of right now.”
