A group of House Republican leaders have called on the Commerce Department to implement full sanctions on two leading Chinese technology companies after they surprised the world with an advanced semiconductor.

Huawei last week released the Mate 60 Pro, a mobile device with an installed 7-nanometer 5G Kirin 9000s processor. The chip production surprised national security experts, who believed that China lacked the necessary tools to produce such technology due to U.S. sanctions, including ones imposed by President Joe Biden in October 2022.

WHY ARE SO MANY HIGH-LEVEL CHINESE OFFICIALS DISAPPEARING

The Commerce Department subsequently announced that it had launched a probe into the device. On Thursday, a group of 10 prominent Republican U.S. representatives sent a letter to Commerce Under Secretary Alan Estevez to demand answers about whether there were breaches in U.S. export controls at the Bureau of Industry and Security that allowed the phone's manufacturer to make the advanced chips.

"We are extremely troubled and perplexed about the [BIS's] inability to effectively write and enforce export control rules against violators, especially China," the group of representatives wrote. "For more than two years, our committees and numerous members of Congress have written you regarding loopholes in BIS rules attempting, unsuccessfully, to restrict technology to Huawei and SMIC, among others."

"Despite this knowledge and continued Congressional pressure to adopt stricter policies," the letter added, "BIS has continued to grant licenses to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled companies, such as SMIC, worth hundreds of billions of dollars."

The signatories demanded that the Commerce Department adopt complete blocking sanctions against Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, the chipmaker that built the Kirin 9000s. This would prohibit all Americans from engaging in transactions with or for the benefit of the two companies.

The letter also asked Commerce to place all SMIC and Huawei subsidiaries on its entity list, meaning that trade with the businesses would be restricted. The two companies were previously added to the entity list in the past, but this order would mean all of their subsidiaries would be included in order to avoid legal loopholes.

Finally, they asked that all existing trade licenses be revoked and that criminal charges be filed against Huawei and SMIC executives.

The signers also requested a briefing on the Mate 60 Pro and the state of U.S. export controls by Sept. 28.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The letter's signatories include House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and the leaders of the Armed Services and China Select Committee.

Huawei has been blacklisted since 2019, which means that it cannot buy or sell certain products in the United States. If Commerce abides by the House's request, it will restrict the company's ability to buy and sell due to its affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party.