US lawmakers angry after Huawei unveils laptop with new Intel AI chip
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[April 13, 2024] WASHINGTON
(Reuters) -Republican U.S. lawmakers on Friday criticized the Biden
administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei
unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel AI chip.
The United States placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for
violating Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing's
technological advances. Placement on the list means the company's
suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before
shipping to it.
One such license, issued by the Trump administration, has allowed Intel
to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020.
China hardliners had urged the Biden administration to revoke that
license, but many grudgingly accepted that it would expire later this
year and not be renewed.
Huawei's unveiling Thursday of its first AI-enabled laptop, the MateBook
X Pro powered by Intel's new Core Ultra 9 processor, shocked and angered
them, because it suggested to them that the Commerce Department had
approved shipments of the new chip to Huawei.
“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"
Republican Congressman Michael Gallagher, who chairs the House of
Representatives select committee on China, said in a statement to
Reuters.
A source familiar with the matter said the chips were shipped under a
preexisting license. They are not covered by recent broad-cased
restrictions on AI chip shipments to China, the source and another
person said.
The Commerce Department and Intel declined to comment. Huawei did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
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A man walks past the Intel logo at its booth during the first China
International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China November
28, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
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The reaction is a sign of growing pressure on the Biden
administration to do more to thwart Huawei's rise, nearly five years
after it was added to a trade restriction list.
In August, it shocked the world with a new phone powered by a
sophisticated chip manufactured by sanctioned Chinese chipmaker SMIC,
becoming a symbol of China's technological resurgence despite
Washington's ongoing efforts to cripple its capacity to produce
advanced semiconductors.
At a Senate subcommittee hearing this week, Kevin Kurland, an export
enforcement official, said Washington's restrictions on Huawei have
had a "significant impact" on it access to U.S. technology. He also
stressed that the goal was not necessarily to stop Huawei from
growing but to keep it from misusing U.S. technology for "malign
activities."
But the remarks did little to stem frustration among Republican
China hawks following the news about Huawei's new laptop.
"These approvals must stop," Republican congressman Michael McCaul
said in a statement to Reuters. "Two years ago, I was told licenses
to Huawei would stop. Today, it doesn’t seem as though the policy
has changed."
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Leslie
Adler and Stephen Coates)
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