The discovery of 7nm, 5G-enabled chips in Huawei’s latest phone has sparked an investigation by the US Commerce Department into how the country was able to acquire the technology. Credit: Madmaxer / Getty Images The US government has reportedly opened a probe into Chinese chips being used in Huawei’s latest 5G-enabled smartphone, a move that has raised questions around the effectiveness of President Joe Biden’s recent executive orders that were supposed to have tightened export controls on such technology. The Huawei Mate Pro 60 contains Kirin 9000s chips — 7 nanometer (nm) chips that have been made in China by the partly state-owned Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), according to an analysis published by TechInsights, a semiconductor research and analysis organization. The US has sought to restrict the availability of 7nm chips in China by imposing export restrictions, but the inclusion of the chip in the phone suggests that China’s domestic chip making efforts may be more advanced than previously thought. “Evidence of SMIC 7nm (N+2)… represents a made-in-China design and manufacturing milestone for the most advanced Chinese foundry,” TechInsights wrote in a blog post. SMIC was barred by the US from obtaining the machines necessary for the production of 7nm chips in late 2020 and to date, the most advanced chip SMIC had been known to manufacture was a larger-scale 14nm semiconductor. The Commerce Department has yet to respond to a request for comment but Bloomberg has reported that the department has launched an investigation in light of the findings. Tech Insights also found that found that South Korean memory maker SK hynix’s LPDDR5 memory had been used in the Mate Pro 60, even though the company insists that it has not sold any of its products to the company since US sanctions were first imposed in 2020, according to Bloomberg. “SK hynix no longer does business with Huawei since the introduction of the US restrictions against the company and with regard to the issue we started an investigation to find out more details,” the company said in a statement to Bloomberg. China-based Huawei and ZTE were both banned from providing equipment to the US government in the Defense Authorization Act of 2018, and a general import ban followed shortly thereafter. In March 2020, President Donald Trump signed a law to prevent US rural telecom carriers from using Huawei network equipment, with the Commerce Department further tightening export controls on the Chinese company in May of the same year. The most advanced 7nm chips are made using a process called extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), a costly production method. Micron Technologies, for exmple, has invested 500 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in order to bring the technology to Japan. Micron plans to use machines powered by this technology to make the next generation of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), also known as 1-gamma chips, at its Hiroshima plant. DRAM chips are widely used in digital electronics where low-cost and high-capacity memory is required. Related content news analysis Apple earnings: About that iPhone 'slump' in China Based on information from Thursday's earnings report, it seems that data pointing to an iPhone slump in China were over-baked. By Jonny Evans May 03, 2024 9 mins iMac iPhone Apple news Microsoft begins to phase out ‘classic’ Teams Microsoft is encouraging Teams customers to move to the new, faster version of the collaboration app; the older version will be switched off next year. By Matthew Finnegan May 03, 2024 3 mins Microsoft Teams Collaboration Software Productivity Software news analysis Apple confirms it will open up the iPad in Europe this fall The latest efforts to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act mean developers can offer to side load apps to both iPhones and iPads in the EU. Apple has also taken steps to improve what it offers to smaller and non-commercial developers in the By Jonny Evans May 02, 2024 6 mins iPad Apple Mobile Apps news Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days Sign-ups will be available over the next 30 days By Lucas Mearian May 02, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry IT Jobs IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe