Global Impact: US-China tech war weighs on Xi Jinping’s legacy ahead of 20th party congress

Name: AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China
Uploaded: 2022-10-03T12:30:09.000Z
Duration: 1 min 36 s
Description: AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China

Global Impact is a fortnightly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world

In this edition, we look at how China’s technological progress has been stalled, especially after US President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act into law

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US President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act into law in August. Photo: TNS

Matt Haldane

Published: 8:30pm, 3 Oct 2022

As President Xi Jinping approaches his all-but-assured third term as general secretary of the Communist Party, to be confirmed at this month’s 20th party congress, a number of major national challenges loom in the background, not least of which is the US-China tech war, which has frustrated the government in its pursuit of technological self-reliance.

This has been a cornerstone of the government under Xi, who has called for more development of pivotal technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G and blockchain, and for more spending on basic research and improving capabilities in making home-grown chips.

In a meeting earlier last month, Xi urged Chinese researchers to be more aggressive in terms of innovation.

“We need to focus on research and development of key technologies with first-mover advantages and basic cutting-edge technologies that lead future development,” the meeting concluded.

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AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China

Trying to leapfrog the market by developing frontier technologies was always a tall order. In the face of US sanctions and a slowing economy, though, that hard work has only got harder.

On paper, there have been some impressive gains. Baidu launched a quantum computer that consumers could access via a smartphone app. Construction is underway on the largest pulsed-power plant in the world, leading one engineer to predict that China could achieve nuclear fusion energy by 2028. China is even funding civilian hypersonic transport.

Yet, in terms of practical technological advances in the economy today, the gains have been more modest. This is most obvious in the case of semiconductors.