BEIJING, October 5 (TMTPost)— Head of the U.S. Department of Commerce highlighted concern about Chinese tech giant Huawei’s 5G comeback.

Credit：Visual China

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said reports about Huawei’s chip breakthrough are “incredibly disturbing” at a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation earlier this week. While not disclosing progress in her department’s probe into Huawei’s chip, Raimond called for “different tools” and “additional resources” to enforce export control.    

This is Raimondo’s second public comment on Huawei in about two weeks, and is also the second time the official showed her concern about Huawei’s tech challenge following her visit to China late August.

Raimondo said she was upset by the advanced Huawei smartphone report at a U.S. House hearing on September 20. She told representatives that the Biden administration don’t have evidence that Huawei can mass produce 7-nanometer chips.  

On September 8, a spokesperson of the U.S. Department of Commerce said the agency is working to “obtain more information on the character and composition of the purported 7nm chip”.  “Let’s be clear: export controls are just one tool in the U.S. government’s toolbox to address the national security threats presented by the PRC,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The restrictions in place since 2019 have knocked Huawei down and forced it to reinvent itself — at a substantial cost to the PRC government.” Sanctions and curbs will only strengthen China’s resolve and capability to seek self-reliance and technological innovation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning late that day warned.

Huawei unveiled the same day pre-orders for new models including the Mate X5 and the Mate 60 Pro Plus, and both of the models were sold out within minutes of their launch on the official online store and other online marketplaces. Huawei didn’t give the specific prices for models. Online shoppers can place their orders with a deposit of RMB1,000 for each mobile, and the device is expected to be delivered by October 9. Without any prior advertising, sales of new models highlighted strong demand, just like debut of Mate 60 Pro a week before. Huawei surprisingly launched a presale for Mate 60 Pro priced at RMB6,999 (US$960) on August 29 even though it has not officially released the model. The low-profile presale turned out such a success that the first batch of the phone sold out within hours, igniting fervor for Huawei’s 5G comeback in China.

While Huawei didn’t provide details about technical specifications or whether the phone supports the 5G network, Chinese media outlets said online tests proved Mate 60 Pro can deliver the internet speed of 5G. Multiple reports attributed Mate 60’s 5G connectivity to Kirin 9000s chipset, which was deemed as evidence that Huawei managed to defy years of U.S. sanctions. Although the network speed test tool displays 4G LTE network, actual test results surpass the theoretical limit of 150Mbps, reaching over 800Mbps, fully meeting 5G network speed standards.

A teardown video of Mate 60 Pro showed that the Kirin 9000s is labeled as 2035-CN, where "CN" represents production in Chinese mainland, indicating that the chip is manufactured by domestic contract factories. A report from China Central Television hailed Mate 60 Pro as a mobiled backed a "Made-in-China chip", confirming the key part is made by Huawei's domestic supplier.

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