The US government is reportedly weighing new measures against Chinese chipmakers believed to be supporting Huawei, revealed with the release of the company’s Mate 60 Pro smartphone despite tighter sanctions.

Companies that could be added to the entity list are Shenzhen Pengjin High-Tech and SiCarrier, both producers of chipmaking equipment, which the US claims have been used as proxies to enable Huawei to import restricted gear, Bloomberg stated.

The list of potential targets also includes ChangXin Memory Technologies, Qingdao Si’En, SwaySure and Shenzhen Pensun Technology Co, Bloomberg wrote.

The launch of the Mate 60 Pro last August raised concerns in the US about the origins of the chipset on the device, which was promoted in China as a major win over US export controls.

Huawei’s chip unit HiSilicon designed the Kirin 9000 main processor in the Mate 60 Pro, produced by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp using a 7nm process.

In addition to gains in processor production, analysts believe China has made significant progress in other areas in bypassing trade sanctions, which the US is keen to stifle.

In October, the US Department of Commerce added new curbs on the sale of AI chips to China from companies such as Nvidia in a move to close loopholes that emerged after chip export restrictions were put in place late 2022.