The United States Commerce Department is investigating whether SMIC illegally obtained US tools to make the Kirin 9000S chip. According to Alan Estevez, a senior official in the department, the chip maker potentially broke 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 a ban on 4 more chip makers, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), Huawei’s provider of the 7nm FinFET SoC.
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