US lawmakers blast Biden after Huawei unveils laptop with new Intel AI chip
- Angry Republican lawmakers accused the Commerce Department of approving shipments of the new chip to the Chinese firm
- Washington placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 over sanctions violations related to Iran
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticised 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 over sanctions violations related to Iran, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances.
Placement on the list means the company’s US 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 there was acceptance by many that it would expire later this year and not be renewed.
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Huawei’s unveiling on 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 US technology to be shipped to Huawei,” Republican Congressman Michael Gallagher, who chairs the House of Representatives select committee on China, said in a statement.
A source familiar with the matter said the chips were shipped under an existing 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 declined to comment. Huawei and Intel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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.
Last August, it shocked the world with a new phone powered by a sophisticated chip manufactured by sanctioned Chinese chip maker SMIC, becoming a symbol of China’s technological resurgence despite Washington’s ongoing efforts to cripple its capacity to produce advanced semiconductors.
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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 US technology. He also stressed that the goal was not necessarily to stop Huawei from growing but to keep it from misusing US 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. “Two years ago, I was told licenses to Huawei would stop. Today, it doesn’t seem as though the policy has changed.”
