Two US senators on Thursday planned to introduce a bill that would ban the government from buying or operating humanoid robots made by Chinese firms.
Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the third most-powerful Republican in the US Senate, and Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, planned to put forward the American Security Robotics Act, which would prohibit the US federal government from buying or using unmanned ground vehicles made by adversaries such as China and bar the use of federal funds in connection with the robots.
The bill comes as Chinese firms compete with US firms such as Tesla to deliver humanoid robots that can stand in for humans for tasks as varied as dangerous manufacturing work and household chores. At least two Chinese firms — Agibot and Unitree — are preparing to list shares in China this year as their products capture attention there.
Photo: EPA
In statements on Thursday, the lawmakers argued that such robots present a national security risk because they could be used to gather data to send back to China or could be remotely controlled from China. A group of lawmakers last year urged the Pentagon to add Unitree to a list of firms that work with China’s military.
“Robots made by Communist China threaten Arkansans’ privacy and our national security,” Cotton said.
Schumer said Chinese firms with support from the Chinese Communist Party “are running their standard playbook — this time in robotics — trying to flood the US market with their technology, which presents real security risks and threats to Americans’ privacy and American research and industry.”
The bill would contain exemptions for the US military and law enforcement agencies to research Chinese robots, as long as the robots cannot transmit data to or receive data from China.
In the US House of Representatives, Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, on Thursday planned to announce a companion bill to the Senate version.
“We must continue to promote and propel America’s robotics superiority while safeguarding our privacy and national security from adversaries,” Stefanik said in a statement.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS