China’s chip industry poses significant threat to global security: Report

China’s chip manufacturing industry, which is rife with intellectual property theft and unfair trade practices, poses a significant threat to global security, and the country’s efforts to train artificial intelligence using advanced chips must be curbed, The Times of Israel reported.

According to The Times of Israel, the United States last year, rightfully increased its competition with China in the semiconductor industry. The CHIPS and Science Act signed by the Biden administration in August is a necessary industrial policy to ensure the US maintains its technological edge and protects its supply chain.

Restrictions rolled out by the Biden administration in October are thus a justified response to China’s predatory behaviour in the sector.

The Biden administration has despite the sanctions, failed to provide Beijing with a viable exit strategy to end the technology war. This is because the Chinese government has not demonstrated a willingness to improve its trade behaviours or respect intellectual property rights. The fact that China’s government has elevated supply chain security to its highest priority further illustrates its nefarious intentions in the semiconductor industry, according to The Times of Israel.

China’s 20th Party Congress report demonstrates the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) determination to prioritise national security over market-based innovation. The report was released days after the US’ announcement of the latest semiconductor export controls.

The report identifies the trade conflict with the US as the “economic main battlefield” and vows to achieve “high-level technology self-strength and self-independence” by attacking technological bottlenecks and winning the war of conquering core technologies.

According to The Times of Israel, the CCP’s strategy is to buttress its leadership role in science and technology affairs, construct a new “national system” for scientific research, and strengthen the “national strategic technological force.” This approach, however, raises concerns about long-term economic distortions caused by economic planning based on security concerns rather than economic viability.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo recently said that America’s eyes were wide open to the fact that China was explicitly trying to get access to American technology for use in its military. She said, “We need to protect ourselves and our allies, and partners from that happening.”

Responding to a query on the US push towards tech decoupling with China and what role will India play in the global semiconductor supply chain and broader US efforts to decouple from China, the US commerce secretary said, “We see India as a trusted technology partner and we want to continue to deepen our technological relationship with India. In fact, we recently launched the iCET (Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies) for critical and emerging technology with India and we hope to work more closely with India in the private sector here around those technologies.”

After this, Raimondo clarified, “I want to be also clear that the United States does not seek to decouple from China nor do we seek a technological decoupling from China. What we seek to do is ensure that certain technologies where the United States is ahead, and where China’s explicit strategy is to have these technologies and deploy them in the Chinese military apparatus.