According to Alan Estevez, a senior official at the department, the chipmaker may have violated export rules, but the situation is still being assessed.
The announcement comes after a congressional hearing earlier this week and reports that the Biden administration is considering sanctions against 4 other chipmakers, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which supplies Huawei’s 7nm FinFET SoCs.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro, along with several other Mate and Nova 12 phones, runs on a Kirin 9000S chipset that was built despite the US ban. On several occasions, the company refused to officially comment on the matter.
The phone is seen as a symbol of China’s resurgence despite Washington’s ongoing efforts to cripple the company, Reuters wrote.
Estevez was quoted as saying he could not talk about any investigation that may or may not be ongoing, adding that his team “certainly shares the concern” that SMIC used American equipment to build a 5G-capable chipset.
