China Cracks Advanced Microchip Technology in Blow Against Western Sanctions

China has cracked a microchip design method previously mastered only by the West in a challenge that could undermine sanctions.

Patent filings show that Huawei has made advances on a crucial chip-making method, raising the prospect that the company could eventually start making some of the tiniest and most powerful microchips in-house.

Such a development would allow Beijing to circumvent Western sanctions. Washington, Brussels and London are all currently blocking access to advanced Western-made computer chips in China over fears the communist nation could develop new military capabilities beyond the resilience of Western armies.

Huawei’s patent application, filed in November but only revealed to the world public this month, describes a way to use ultraviolet light to etch the inner workings of a computer chip into a piece of silicon.

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China has cracked a microchip design method previously mastered only by the West in a challenge that could undermine sanctions.