USA finds Huawei Mate 60 Pro 'deeply concerning': US Secretary of Commerce threatens new sanctions

Some years ago, the US classified Huawei as a national security risk and earlier this year imposed the strictest sanctions yet, which should have made smartphone production almost impossible. However, Huawei has managed to produce a smartphone, namely the Mate 60 Pro, with a modern 7 nm 5G SoC despite these limitations.

In August, the US accused Huawei of violating sanctions. Now, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has commented on the situation in an interview with Bloomberg, describing the Huawei Mate 60 Pro as 'deeply concerning'. The Department of Commerce intends to respond with the 'strongest possible' measures to protect the US.

But a thorough investigation is planned beforehand in order to find out how Huawei was able to produce an advanced smartphone so quickly without relying on global supply chains, at least almost, because as has been revealed, some of the memory chips in the Mate 60 series stem from South Korean manufacturer SK Hynix.

Gina Raimondo is once again using the opportunity to request additional funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Mao Ning, speaking on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that the US is repeatedly abusing its export controls and that such is not in the interest of global supply chains. According to Bloomberg's report, the HiSilicon Kirin 9000s in the Mate 60 Pro are manufactured by machines from Dutch market leader ASML, which Chinese chip maker SMIC may well have acquired before the current sanctions.