Lawmakers Call for Revoking Huawei’s Export Licenses
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., urged the Commerce Department last week to immediately revoke all export licenses to China’s Huawei, saying the Bureau of Industry and Security is allowing a foreign adversary's company to obtain too much advanced U.S. technology.
In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the lawmakers said they’re concerned by recent reports that Huawei’s new Matebook X Pro computer contains U.S.-based Intel’s “cutting-edge” Core Ultra 9 processor (see 2404150039), even though Huawei has been on the Commerce's Entity List since 2019 (see 1905160072). The processor has artificial intelligence capabilities, and giving it to Huawei will make it easier for China and its military to “evade U.S. technology restrictions and race ahead in AI,” the letter says.
The lawmakers also said they’re concerned that China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) may have violated U.S. export control laws by producing 7 nanometer computing chips with American equipment it obtained before BIS imposed updated export controls on chipmaking tools last year (see 2403210068). The chips, which House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, has described as the “gateway” to AI, found their way into Huawei's new Mate 60 Pro smartphone.
“We’ve received the letter and will respond through the appropriate channels,” a Commerce spokesperson said.
Huawei didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.