In an interview with CBS News aired on April 21, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo downplayed Huawei’s claimed technological breakthrough. Last August, while Ms. Raimondo was visiting China, Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro smartphone, which is equipped with an advanced 7-nanometer chip produced domestically.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at an event in Washington DC on April 17.
The Mate 60 Pro is seen as a symbol of China's technological rise, despite Huawei being blacklisted by the US in 2019.
“It’s still years behind what we have in the United States. We have the most sophisticated semiconductors in the world. China doesn’t have that. We’re ahead of them in innovation,” Raimondo said.
The US Commerce Secretary stressed that Washington's technology export controls are still effective because Beijing's chips are not nearly as good as American chips.
In the interview, Ms. Raimondo said she has focused on preventing the Chinese and Russian governments from obtaining advanced U.S.-designed chips because of national security concerns.
“If you talk about national security today, it's not just tanks and missiles, it's technology, semiconductors, AI (artificial intelligence), drones,” said Secretary Raimondo.
She said the US Commerce Department had blocked all chip sales to Russia because of the conflict in Ukraine, which had affected the combat capabilities of Moscow's forces. Raimondo also said she had heard reports of Russians taking semiconductors from refrigerators and dishwashers, according to Axios .
The host noted that Chinese officials have warned that banning the sale of products with US-designed chips to Russia could spark a trade war, citing figures showing that 750,000 US jobs are linked to trade with China.
"We want to trade with China on many products and services, but not on technologies that affect national security," Minister Raimondo replied.
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