Despite US sanctions limiting access to American hardware and technology, Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled a new MateBook X Pro laptop featuring an Intel chip. This move has triggered strong reactions in the US, raising concerns about Huawei’s ability to bypass restrictions and potential implications for national security and trade relations between the two countries.
Huawei’s latest move comes against the backdrop of its placement on America’s trade blacklist in 2019. This development reignites fervent debates surrounding international trade policies and raises heightened concerns regarding national security implications stemming from Huawei’s ability to circumvent sanctions.
Huawei’s unveiling of the new MateBook X Pro has prompted swift and forceful reactions from US legislators, particularly Republicans. Figures like Mike Gallagher and Michael McCaul have voiced their concerns, questioning the wisdom of permitting American technology to be accessible to Huawei amidst stringent sanctions. This issue has exerted significant pressure on the Biden administration to reassess and potentially bolster regulations governing technology exports to blacklisted firms.
Huawei’s recent launch marks the second instance in recent months that has sparked controversy in the US. Last August, the Chinese phone manufacturer introduced several Huawei Mate 60 flagship phones featuring high-end Kirin chips supplied by China’s leading chipmaker, SMIC. This move prompted the US to initiate an investigation into Huawei and its chip supply chains to ascertain how it managed to reintroduce high-end chips despite restrictions.
In March 2024, Bloomberg reported that the US is contemplating further tightening Huawei’s chip supply chain. The Biden administration is allegedly weighing the possibility of blacklisting four Chinese chipmakers that provide hardware to Huawei. These chipmakers are Qingdao Sien, SwaySure, Shenzhen Pensun Technology, and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a major memory chip manufacturer in China.
