President Biden has accelerated the US effort to rein in China’s technological advancement by implementing tighter controls on quantum computing and semiconductor goods. Advanced chip making tools and other semiconductor technologies are crucial for artificial intelligence applications.

The US Department of Commerce announced the new rules, and cited ‘national security and foreign policy reasons’ for the move. The restrictions cover worldwide exports, and the Bureau of Industry’s Alan Estevez confirms,

“Aligning our controls on quantum and other advanced technologies makes it significantly more difficult for our adversaries to develop and deploy these technologies in ways that threaten our collective security”

Race to the top

The new rules mean that any company exporting certain technologies will need a license from the US government to do so, giving the government the opportunity to restrict sales to countries in alignment with its foreign policy goals.

The Center for Strategic and International Sales assessed, “The success of US controls is likely to depend on the ability to harmonize US restrictions with those of key allies, whose export controls differ substantially from those of the United States, resulting in substantial gaps."

Restrictions on chip sales and services have already been in the works with the US leveraging authority in hopes of influencing Japan to limit their exports. China threatened retaliation to this, as both the US and China look to dominate in what seems to be evolving into a battle of attrition between the two superpowers.

China currently leads in tech research and in chip spending, and is reportedly close to the development levels of the lead manufacturers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. As AI continues to develop, semiconductors and other valuable tech components

Via The Register

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