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Italian becomes first journalist killed in east Ukraine
The body of an Italian photographer was being flown to Kiev on Sunday after he became the first journalist to die covering the violent pro-Russian insurgency gripping the east of Ukraine.
Italian media identified the victim as 30-year-old Andrea Rocchelli - founder of the Cesura photo agency and contributor to leading media organisations such as US magazine and the French daily .
The Italian foreign ministry said the exact circumstances of his death remained unclear because the situation on the ground was “difficult to verify” even for the Ukrainian authorities.
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ExplainerWhile under US sanctions, where did Huawei get the advanced chips for its latest Mate 60 Pro smartphone?
- TechInsights said SMIC used existing equipment and its second-generation 7-nm process to manufacture the 5G-capable Kirin 9000s for Huawei
- Huawei was known to have been stockpiling chips from its HiSilicon unit before TSMC cut ties to comply with US sanctions
1. China’s top chip maker SMIC made the chip for Huawei
Research company TechInsights said in a note on its WeChat account that SMIC has used existing equipment and applied its second-generation 7-nanometre process, known as the N+2 node, to manufacture the 5G-capable Kirin 9000s for Huawei. The California-based research firm said it would provide more details on the phone’s connectivity next week.
Baidu, Huawei executives among 655 nominees to join China’s engineering academy1 Sep 2023
If that is the case, it would mark a “breakthrough” for China’s semiconductor industry and a major win for Huawei’s smartphone business.
However, under the US sanctions, SMIC should not have been able to make advanced chips for Huawei.
2. Huawei has produced the chip using its own supply chain network
This is another possibility, coming after a report by Bloomberg, citing the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association, as saying the Chinese telecoms giant has been building up a secret chipmaking supply chain by recruiting existing foundries to help it skirt US export controls. In this case, the chip inside the Mate 60 showcases how Huawei has achieved a breakthrough.
This is an unlikely scenario but it fits the Chinese nationalist narrative that Huawei, after biting the bullet for years under US sanctions, has finally defeated the US restrictions.
3. Huawei dipped into its own inventory of chips for the new phone
This explanation means that the chips in Huawei’s new phone are from inventory, and were manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) before September 2020, when the US doubled down on sanctions to inflict a blanket ban on Huawei and all its subsidiaries’ accessing advanced chips. TSMC relies on US core technology to produce silicon wafers, therefore was required to comply with the sanctions rule.
Huawei was known to have been stockpiling chips from its HiSilicon unit before TSMC cut ties to comply with US sanctions, and some analysts believe it may have used these old chips in the new phone, with some repackaging and modifications.
If this scenario is true, it would mean Huawei is still being starved of advanced chips under US sanctions.
