China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday.
The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points.
The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can always catch up to the leader in AI technology, Jeremy Chang (張智程), chief executive officer of the National Science and Technology Council’s Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology, wrote on Facebook.
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Choke points do not exist in the battle to dominate AI technology and the US must maintain its advantage in computing as the only reliable defense of its technological superiority, he said.
Under these conditions, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, the world’s leading chipmakers, would gain greater strategic value to Washington, even beyond what their position in the first island chain affords them, he said.
The defense alliance between the US and first island chain nations would likely undergo a shift from geopolitical to technological significance as the competition for AI tech heats up, Chang said.
That means the US cannot lose the first island chain, as the loss of the technological advantages associated with the countries could not be made up for with military means, Chang said.
US President Donald Trump’s administration would surely take notice of the importance of securing access to advanced semiconductors from regional partners to protect the US’ technology sectors, he said.
Should China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) overtake Taiwan and South Korea in chip supply chains, Beijing would have succeeded in supplanting the power of Western nations with a China-dominated global order, he said.
Taiwan faces a golden opportunity to upgrade its relationship with Washington so long as a pro-US government is in Taipei, but the nation also faces steep risks due to political instability, he said.
However, Taipei-based Japanese journalist Akio Yaita said that DeepSeek’s claims of creating an affordable AI cannot be ruled out as a figment of Chinese propaganda.
Beijing could have invested in DeepSeek far beyond the publicly registered capital of 10 million yuan (US$1.38 million) to prop up the claim that China invented cheap AI tech, he said.
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