This week, American heavyweight Democratic senator Mark Warner sent a letter to President Biden questioning the lax government oversight. Reports had previously indicated that a chip produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) was used in products manufactured by Huawei, which is subject to severe sanctions.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Senator Warner also questioned the government’s “ineffective leadership” in enforcing US export regulations. TSMC had notified the US that a chip produced by the company was found in Huawei’s artificial intelligence processor, potentially violating US restrictions on the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer.
Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee with broad oversight and review powers, expressed in his letter to President Biden on Wednesday, “TSMC producing chips for Huawei could have serious implications for US national security.”
“I urge you to take immediate action to assess and strengthen existing regulatory measures.”
The White House, Huawei, and TSMC did not comment on the request for a response from Reuters. The Department of Commerce, responsible for export policies, stated in a release, “There has never been such a tough stance by Commerce Department authorities towards China (the CCP) in history.”
The Department of Commerce enumerated that over four hundred Chinese companies were placed on the trade restriction list, known as the Entity List, implementing “broad” new control measures and setting a record number of companies identified as violating regulations last year.
“We will continue to use all tools – administrative, criminal, and regulatory – to protect US national security,” the Department of Commerce statement added.
This letter from a Democratic colleague indicates a growing concern among lawmakers that the US government has not been taking sufficiently aggressive action to deter Beijing from unlawfully developing technology.
Reuters previously reported that the technology research company TechInsights dismantled Huawei products and found a chip produced by TSMC inside. Huawei was placed on the US export control list in 2019, and if TSMC is confirmed to have exported chips to Huawei, it may violate US export restrictions.
Sources revealed that the chip found using TSMC was in Huawei’s Ascend 910B processor. The Ascend 910B is considered Huawei’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip.
Warner wrote in the letter that this apparently aided the development of Huawei’s AI ecosystem. The US is concerned that the CCP may exploit this technology to develop biological weapons and launch large-scale cyberattacks.
Last week, two members of the “House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party” — committee chairman Lehnar and committee’s ranking Democratic member Raja Krishnamoorthi — wrote to the Department of Commerce urging sanctions on Chinese companies related to Huawei and to prevent semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) from entering China.
“Restricting the flow of SME to Huawei’s secretive semiconductor company network will send a significant signal to the People’s Republic of China (CCP) and Huawei that the US will take appropriate action to prevent problematic technology ambitions from being advanced by US technology,” wrote Lehnar and Krishnamoorthi in their joint letter.
A few days after the letter was made public, the Department of Commerce reportedly launched an investigation to determine how Huawei obtained the chip.
TSMC stated that it stopped shipping to Huawei in mid-September 2020 and issued a warning to the US Commerce Department proactively. The company also recently ceased business with Sophgo as the chips purchased by the Chinese company were similar to those found in Huawei’s processors.
However, Sophgo denied doing business with Huawei.