US President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday added seven Chinese supercomputer research labs and manufacturers to a US export blacklist amid a dispute with Beijing over technology and security.
The measure is the latest sign that Biden is sticking to the line taken by former US president Donald Trump toward Chinese tech industries seen by Washington as potential threats.
The decision adds to mounting conflict over the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) industrial plans, access to US technology, and accusations of computer attacks and theft of business secrets.
Photo: Reuters
The latest penalties block access to US technology for researchers and manufacturers that the US Department of Commerce said build supercomputers used by the Chinese military in weapons development.
Biden has said he wants better relations with Beijing, but has given no indication that he will roll back sanctions imposed by Trump on Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and other companies.
The CCP has responded by declaring that accelerating efforts to transform China into a self-reliant “technology power” will be this year’s top economic priority.
Chinese-designed supercomputers have set records for speed, but are assembled from processor chips and other hardware made in the US.
They can be used in weapons development by simulating nuclear explosions, and the aerodynamics of high-speed or stealth aircraft and missiles.
The latest US penalties affect the National Supercomputing Centers (國家超級計算中心) in the cities of Jinan, Shenzhen, Wuxi and Zhengzhou; Tianjin Phytium Information Technology Co (天津飛騰信息技術); the Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center (上海集成電路技術與產業促進中心); and Shenzhen Sunway Micro-electronics Co (深圳信維微電子).
Meanwhile, US telecom regulators are in the process of stripping three Chinese phone carriers of the right to operate in the US.
Trump also tried to force the Chinese owner of video service TikTok to sell its US unit and issued an order barring Americans from investing in securities of companies deemed by the Pentagon to be linked to China’s military.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS