Advanced Huawei Mate 60 Pro rattles U.S. Govt forcing it to tighten sanctions on Chinese chipmaker

Back in December, we reported that the US Department of Commerce was planning to hit China with new sanctions after the unexpected launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro and its Kirin 9000S 5G chipset. According to a report by Reuters, the U.S. Govt is now targeting China’s premier chipmaking factory, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), by further restricting the firm’s ability to procure chipmaking equipment and materials.

The latest sanctions are seemingly a direct result of the U.S. Administration being troubled by the Mate 60 Pro which is powered by a 7 nm Kirin 9000S SoC. SMIC South, an SMIC subsidiary that is reportedly a key R&D hub, is considered to be the plant behind the Kirin 9000S. So, the Biden Govt’s sanctions are allegedly targeting SMIC South by stopping U.S-based suppliers from fulfilling the Chinese firm's orders.

Per Reuters, the Commerce Department restricted U.S. firms from selling to SMIC South towards the end of last year. The new rules forced Entegris, a U.S. supplier of chipmaking equipment and materials, to cancel shipments. Entegris had reportedly been supplying SMIC South till late 2023. In its investigation, Reuters was unable to find any violations by the company.

Reacting to the latest trade curbs, the Chinese Embassy in Washington termed the new steps as “out-and-out economic bullying” and an abuse of state power against Chinese firms.

Reports from early February claimed that SMIC was gearing up to produce 5 nm chips for Huawei using Deep Ultraviolet Lithography (DUV) instead of the Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) technique as it can’t procure the required tools for the latter. It remains to be seen what effects the new sanctions have on the chipmaker’s 5 nm production plans and whether the manufacturer will be able to ship such an advanced chip if it can’t source materials from America.

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