'While the Huawei phone is not itself a major national security issue for the United States, what the chip inside signals about the state of the Chinese semiconductor industry absolutely is.' Gregory Allen, Center for Strategic and International Studies The achievement cast doubt on Washington's ability to thwart Beijing's technological ambitions, and spurred political pressure for the Biden administration to impose more sanctions on Huawei and its chipmaking partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. The US has begun a formal investigation into the Huawei phone.