The US government has begun an official probe into an advanced made-in-China chip housed within Huawei Technologies Co.’s latest smartphone, a revelation that’s set off a debate in Washington about the efficacy of sanctions intended to contain a geopolitical rival. The Commerce Department, which enacted a series of restrictions against Huawei and China’s chip industry over the past two years, said it’s working to get more information on a “purported” 7-nanometer processor discovered within the Mate 60 Pro. The chip was made by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., which like Huawei is blacklisted by the US and restricted from accessing American technology. Huawei’s quiet reveal of a mobile phone utilizing technology the US has sought to keep out of Beijing’s hands threatens to derail recent efforts of outreach by the Biden administration. The phone went on sale online while Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was on a trip to China last week, the latest in a series of high-level diplomatic visits to Beijing. The debate now centers around whether it represents a failure of US efforts — led by Raimondo’s department — to hamstring China’s tech sector, which Washington fears will give it a military edge. It’s also raised questions about whether the main US mechanisms to do that — controls on exports of key materials, tools and knowhow — need to be tightened.

Full story : The US Department of Commerce opens an official probe “to obtain more information” on a “purported 7nm chip” made by SMIC in China powering Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro.