Tighter export controls on computer chips escalate the U.S. rivalry with China
BY WILL HENSHALL
NOT BY CHANCE DID THE ERA OF WORLDWIDE free trade—globalization—coincide with the hope of successive U.S. governments that the capitalism that was lifting billions of people out of poverty would also show China the merits of democracy. The two were invariably linked, after all, in the Cold War that the West had won.
But China preferred to launch a new rivalry, promoting a new authoritarian system that offers the wealth of capitalism while exploiting elements (surveillance, centralization) of what generates so much of that wealth: digital tech.
That’s why the Biden Administration announced on Oct. 17 that it is tightening export controls on semiconductor chips used for artificial intelligence and the equipment used to manufacture them. AI is considered key to efficiencies that could provide not only huge advantages in business and commerce, but also even more critical advantages in a country’s military and defense. To ensure that more semiconductors are made in America, the Administration last year hailed passage of the CHIPS and Science Act. And to prevent China from acquiring or producing advanced chips, the new Commerce Department rules aim both to close loopholes in controls announced a year ago, and to account for technological developments since.
But the controls are also a sharp escalation in the contest for technological superiority between the U.S. and China, even as the Biden Administration tries to cool tensions between the countries in other domains. The chips themselves are increasingly crucial for the development of state-of-the-art AI systems. And though some analysts question the controls’ efficacy, if they succeed, China could be left behind.
“PROTECTING OUR FOUNDATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES with a small yard and high fence” is how White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has previously described the restrictions, implying that the rules are tailored to affect only advanced technology with relevance to national security.
But others say the restrictions go further, edging into the realms of business and trade. A report by Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, argued that because the restrictions are industry-agnostic and aim to prevent China from ever matching U.S. capabilities, they “marked the beginning of a new era in U.S.-China relations.”
That unse
