WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Republican lawmakers on Friday criticized the Biden administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms giant Huawei unveiled laptops this week equipped with Intel AI chips. did.
In 2019, the United States added Huawei to its list of trade restrictions for violating sanctions related to Iran as part of a broader effort to hinder Beijing's technological advances.
Being on the list means the company's U.S. suppliers must obtain special licenses, which are difficult to obtain, before shipping.
One such license issued by the Trump administration allows Intel to ship central processing units to Huawei for use in laptops starting in 2020. Chinese hawks had called on the Biden administration to revoke the license, but many accepted that it would expire later this year. year and will not be updated.
Huawei on Thursday unveiled its first AI-enabled laptop, the MateBook This shocked and angered Huawei.
Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said in a post on social media platform
Stefanik said: “It is acceptable that the Biden administration is actively working to undermine America's national security by giving America's greatest strategic adversary access to America's most advanced technology.'' I can’t.”
The Commerce Department declined to comment. Huawei and Intel did not respond to requests for comment.
Another Republican lawmaker, Michael McCaul, echoed Stefanik's comments in an emailed statement to Reuters. “These approvals should stop,” he said. “Two years ago, we were told that Huawei's license would be suspended, and it appears that policy has not changed.”
Sources said the chips were shipped under an existing license. They are not subject to recent large-scale restrictions on AI chip shipments to China, this source and another person said.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Leslie Adler)