The US government has said Huawei poses “unacceptable” national security risks. (File)
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The U.S. has no evidence that Chinese manufacturer Huawei can produce smartphones with advanced chips in large volume, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday. Huawei recently started selling its Mate 60 Pro phone containing a chip that analysts believe was made with a technology breakthrough by Chinese chip foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC).

“We don’t have any evidence that they can manufacture seven-nanometer (chips) at scale,” Raimondo said at a U.S. House hearing, referencing an advanced chip. From 2019, the U.S. cut Huawei’s access to certain chipmaking tools, calling Huawei a security risk, which the company denies.

The U.S. government has said Huawei poses “unacceptable” national security risks because of the threat of spying on U.S. telecommunications networks. The Commerce Department said this month it is working to obtain more information “on the character and composition” of the chip that may violate trade restrictions since they said it must have been made with U.S. technology.

Raimondo told the House Science Committee hearing she was upset by the advanced Huawei smartphone report. Some Republicans think the Commerce Department should end all technology exports to Huawei and SMIC.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)

The chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Energy and Commerce, Armed Services, and select China committees last week urged the Commerce Department to stop granting licenses to Huawei and SMIC, and said it called for additional U.S. pressure “and more effective export controls on our adversaries.”

Raimondo declined to comment after the hearing on whether she was considering ending all licenses for Huawei. Republican Representative Darrell Issa said at the hearing Raimondo was in China when the new Huawei phone was announced.

“You were bushwhacked to say the least by the launch of a 5G phone,” Issa said. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said this month the U.S. government is trying to get more information about the Huawei chip. Raimondo also told reporters the apparent bans on some Chinese government official use of Apple’s iPhones by the Chinese government was “concerning.”

The phone is powered by a new Kirin 9000s chip that was made in China by SMIC. (File)
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

China’s Huawei Technologies on Friday started presales for its Mate 60 Pro+ smartphone, adding a new version to a series that has captured global attention for revealing the Chinese tech firm’s success in beating back against U.S. sanctions.

With no prior advertising, as it did for the launch of the Mate 60 Pro smartphone last week, the company announced on its official online store that it would start taking orders for the phone from 10:08 a.m. (0208 GMT) with delivery by Oct. 9.

Specifications the company provided for the phone touted its capability to link-up to two satellites concurrently and larger internal storage versus the Mate 60 Pro. It did not release its price.

Speed tests shared by buyers on Chinese social media have suggested that the Mate 60 Pro is capable of download speeds exceeding those of top-line 5G phones.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)

.The discovery is seen as a breakthrough for Huawei, whose access to chipmaking tools essential for producing the most advanced handset models has been restricted since 2019 by the U.S. This previously left the company only able to launch limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips.

The company on Friday also launched the Huawei Mate X5, a new version of its foldable phone series.