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Tech 2023-05-26 00:29:55 Source: Network

The Sea "was written by Koga Chunjiang (Japan) in 1929On October 7, 2022, the US government implemented export controls in an attempt to hinder the development of China's semiconductor industry. An industry expert told the Financial Times: "This policy is aimed at stifling China's development of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing

The Sea "was written by Koga Chunjiang (Japan) in 1929

On October 7, 2022, the US government implemented export controls in an attempt to hinder the development of China's semiconductor industry. An industry expert told the Financial Times: "This policy is aimed at stifling China's development of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing." The next day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said:

The United States, in order to maintain its technological hegemony, has abused export control measures to maliciously block and suppress Chinese enterprises. This practice deviates from the principle of fair competition and violates international economic and trade rules, not only harming the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, but also affecting the interests of American enterprises. This practice hinders international scientific and technological exchanges and economic cooperation, and will have an impact on the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain and the recovery of the world economy. The United States will The politicization, instrumentalization, and weaponization of technology and economic and trade issues cannot hinder China's development, but will only blockade itself and backfire on itself

In our collaboration with the "No Cold War" organization, the Three Continents Social Research Institute studied the impact of these export control measures, with a focus on semiconductors. Briefing 7 introduces the thriving vitality of semiconductors and the reasons why Washington's use of semiconductors for the New Cold War will not succeed.

Briefing 7: US Technology War with China

On April 8th, someone asked the Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCall, to explain "why Americans... should pay the price of blood and wealth to defend Taiwan." His answer was intriguing: "TSMC produces 90% of the world's advanced semiconductor chips," the interviewer pointed out, McCall's reasoning "sounds like answering why the United States spent so much money and military resources in the Middle East during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s when oil was particularly important to the economy," and then continuing to ask whether semiconductor chips are the "21st century version" of oil - a key driving force of US foreign policy towards China.

Semiconductor chips are the cornerstone of cutting-edge technologies in the world, such as artificial intelligence, 5G communication, and supercomputers, as well as all modern electronic products. Without chips, computers, telephones, cars, and essential equipment in daily life will all be shut down. Chips are typically produced by etching microcircuit diagrams on thin silicon layers using ultraviolet light, with billions of electronic switches called transistors mounted on a nail sized wafer. With the development of this technology, chip components continue to develop towards miniaturization: the smaller the distance between transistors, the higher the density that the chip can accommodate transistors, and more computing power can be integrated into every aspect of modern life. At present, the most advanced chips are produced using a 3-nanometer process (the thickness of a piece of paper is approximately 100000 nanometers).

Classic Landscape "by Charles Shiller (USA) in 1931

Semiconductor supply chain

The commercial semiconductor industry emerged in Silicon Valley, California in the late 1950s, with the United States leading all aspects from research, design, manufacturing, to sales. The industry has had geopolitical significance from the beginning, with early manufacturers selling over 95% of their chips to the Pentagon or aerospace departments. In the following decades, the United States selectively outsourced most of its chip manufacturing to its East Asian allies, first Japan, then South Korea and Taiwan, China. This enables the United States to reduce capital and labor costs, promote industrial development for its allies, and continue to dominate the supply chain.

Today, American companies maintain absolute advantage in chip design (such as Intel, AMD, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Nvidia) and manufacturing equipment (such as Applied Materials, Fanlin Group and Kelei). TSMC in Taiwan, China, China, is the largest semiconductor manufacturer or foundry in the world, accounting for an overwhelming 56% of the global market share, accounting for more than 90% of advanced chip manufacturing in 2022, followed by Samsung in South Korea, accounting for 15% of the global market share. In addition, the Dutch company Asme plays a key role in monopolizing the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines required to produce cutting-edge chips below 7 nanometers.

Semiconductor supply chain401990202015%2020378018%5%

Hector and Andromache, Giorgio de Chirico (Italy), 1955-1956

US Offensive Against China

In recent years, the United States has been actively launching an offensive to curb China's technological development, believing that its dominant position is seriously threatened. In the words of Jack Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, Washington's goal is to "maintain the greatest possible leading advantage". For this reason, the United States regards China's semiconductor production capacity as an important weakness and attempts to prevent China from acquiring cutting-edge chips and chip manufacturing technology. Under the leadership of the Trump and Biden administrations, the United States has blacklisted hundreds of Chinese companies in trade and investment, including the country's major semiconductor manufacturer SMIC International and technology giant Huawei. These restrictions prohibit any company in the world that uses American products - in fact, every chip designer and manufacturer - from doing business with Chinese technology companies.

The United States is also pressuring governments and businesses around the world to impose similar restrictions. Since 2018, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have joined the United States in prohibiting Huawei from entering its 5G telecommunications network, and some European countries have also implemented partial bans or restrictions. Importantly, in 2019, after more than a year of intense lobbying by the United States, the Dutch government prevented key company Asme from exporting equipment to China, which produces and supplies the most advanced chip manufacturing machines for the semiconductor industry.

These policies not only target companies, but also have a direct impact on individuals. In October 2022, the Biden government restricted "Americans" (including citizens, residents, and green card holders) from working for Chinese chip companies, forcing many people to make a choice between their immigration status and work. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a top think tank in Washington, D.C., describes US policy as "actively stifling most of China's technology industry - attempts to stifle are fatal" (we emphasize).

While taking anti China containment measures, the United States is also vigorously improving its domestic chip manufacturing capabilities. The Chip and Science Act, signed into law in August 2022, provided $280 billion in funding to promote the domestic semiconductor industry in the United States and reflow production from East Asia to the United States. Given that Taiwan, China is close to Chinese Mainland, Washington believes that Taiwan, China, as the manufacturing center of the semiconductor industry, is a strategic weakness, and is urging TSMC to move production to Phoenix, Arizona. This pressure in turn creates friction in the US Taiwan relationship.

However, the efforts of the United States are not flawless. Although China has suffered serious setbacks, it has increased efforts to enhance its own capabilities. Despite the numerous obstacles set by the United States, China still shows signs of progress. For example, it is reported that in 2022, China's SMIC International achieved a significant technological breakthrough, achieving a leap from 14nm to 7nm semiconductor chips, comparable to the world's leading Intel, TSMC, and Samsung.

The Paranoia World - One of the Zhongyin (Part 1) "by Lu Yang (China) in 2021

Important global issues

It is worth noting that in this conflict, the goal of the United States is not just China: Washington is worried that China's scientific and technological development will spread advanced technology more widely throughout the world through trade and investment, that is, to the "Global South", which is regarded as a threat by the United States. This will be a major blow to the United States' control over these countries. In 2020, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee accused China of promoting "digital authoritarianism" because China "is willing to enter a smaller market with insufficient services" and "provides more cost-effective equipment than Western companies", and pointed out that Venezuela and Zimbabwe and other countries subject to US sanctions are examples. In order to crack down on the connection between Chinese technology companies and sanctioned countries, the United States used strict legal measures and fined Chinese company ZTE 1.2 billion US dollars in 2017 for violating US sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The United States also cooperated with Canada and arrested Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive, in 2018, accusing her of evading US sanctions against Iran.

Not surprisingly, although the United States was able to push some Western allies to further support its agenda, its attempts in the global south failed. It is in the interest of developing countries to spread these advanced technologies as widely as possible and break free from the control of a few countries.

The End of the Beginning "was written by Squid Bogson (Ethiopia) from 1972 to 1973

If you are reading this news release on your smartphone, you should know that a small phone has billions of invisible micro transistors to the naked eye. The scale of digital technology development is shocking. Early conflicts occurred in the energy and food sectors, but now these conflicts have escalated in matters such as digital world resources. This technology can be used to solve many of our difficulties, but we are on the brink of greater conflict, with only a few benefiting and not meeting the needs of the majority.

(The author of this article, Vijay Prasad, is an executive director of the Three Continents Social Research Institute and a senior researcher of the Chongyang Institute of Finance of Renmin University of China. This article is transferred from the WeChat official account of the "Three Continents News Agency" on May 24, 2023. Welcome to follow the Renmin Chongyang Sina Weibo: @ Renmin Chongyang; WeChat official account: rdcy2013)

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