House lawmakers have called on the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security to impose sanctions against Chinese telecommunications company Huawei for launching a smartphone with 7-nanometer, 5G-enabled chips developed by Chinese state-owned Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and nine other House committee leaders sent a letter to BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez to request tighter sanctions against the Chinese companies for allegedly violating U.S. export control regulations, HASC said Friday.
According to the lawmakers, companies such as SMIC support the Chinese military and “have been responsible for manufacturing semiconductors that power Huawei’s 5G devices, in violation of BIS’ export controls.”
The letter included seven recommendations to protect sensitive technologies from malign actors, including establishing a sanctions authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act focused on Chinese companies and imposing full blocking sanctions on SMIC and Huawei.
The committee leaders also recommended that BIS revoke all existing licenses for SMIC and Huawei and pursue criminal charges against the companies’ executives.
