SK Hynix Chips Found Inside Huawei Mate 60 Pro Raise Questions Amid Export Restrictions

(RTTNews) - South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is in a puzzling situation after two of its memory chips were discovered inside Huawei's controversial Mate 60 Pro smartphone. This revelation sent shockwaves through the tech industry, causing SK Hynix's shares to plummet by over 4 precent. The chips in question, a 12GB LPDDR5 chip and a 512GB NAND flash memory chip, were found by Canada-based semiconductor research organization TechInsights during a teardown analysis.

This discovery has raised several questions about how these SK Hynix chips ended up in Huawei's device, given the ongoing US restrictions on technology exports to China. G Dan Hutcheson, Vice Chair of TechInsights, raised concerns about potential export regulation violations by SK Hynix, questioning the origin of these chips.

In response, SK Hynix has initiated an investigation into the matter and clarified that it stopped doing business with Huawei following US restrictions. The company emphasized its commitment to complying with US export restrictions.

Experts speculate that Huawei may have acquired the memory chips from the secondary market or had a stockpile of components before the US export restrictions were fully enforced.

TechInsights, in the process of analyzing the Mate 60 Pro, has not ruled out the possibility of finding more components from companies subject to US trade sanctions. Initial findings indicate that most components in the phone come from Chinese suppliers.

The Mate 60 Pro's launch is considered a significant achievement for China amid its ongoing technological rivalry with the US. This development has prompted US congressmen to call for further restrictions on technology exports to Chinese companies.

Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's top chipmaker responsible for the Kirin 9000s chip powering the Mate 60 Pro, have not yet commented on this revelation.

It's worth noting that in 2019, the US banned American companies from selling software and equipment to Huawei and restricted international chipmakers using US-made technology from collaborating with the company. Therefore, the inclusion of SK Hynix chips in the Mate 60 Pro has raised questions about how Huawei managed to manufacture such an advanced smartphone amid US efforts to limit China's access to foreign chip technology.