The Georgia Institute of Technology is ending its research and educational partnerships in the Chinese cities of Tianjin and Shenzhen, the US university said on Friday, following scrutiny from the US Congress over its collaboration with entities allegedly linked to China’s military.
In May, the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party wrote a letter to Georgia Tech asking for details on its research with China’s northeastern Tianjin University on cutting-edge semiconductor technologies.
The Chinese school and its affiliates were in 2020 added to the US Department of Commerce’s export restrictions list for actions contrary to US national security, including trade secret theft and research collaboration to advance China’s military.
Photo: Reuters
University spokeswoman Abbigail Tumpey said in an e-mail that Georgia Tech has been assessing its posture in China since Tianjin University was added to the entity list.
“Tianjin University has had ample time to correct the situation. To date, Tianjin University remains on the Entity List, making Georgia Tech’s participation with Tianjin University, and subsequently Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute, no longer tenable,” Tumpey said.
Georgia Tech, a top tier US engineering school and major recipient of US Department of Defense funding, said in an accompanying statement that it would discontinue its participation in the Shenzhen institute, but that the approximately 300 students in programs there would have the opportunity to fulfill their degree requirements.
In January, Georgia Tech touted that its researchers based in Atlanta and at the Tianjin International Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems had created the world’s first functional semiconductor made from the nanomaterial graphene.
It said the breakthrough could lead to a “paradigm shift” in electronics and yield faster computing.
The US and China, intense geopolitical and scientific rivals, view semiconductors as a strategic industry with civilian and military uses, including quantum computing and advanced weapons systems.
In its May letter, the select committee said the Tianjin research center is affiliated with a Chinese company with subsidiaries that supply the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
A Georgia Tech scientist who led the Tianjin project has defended the research, saying that all the results were available to the public and that the collaboration had passed extensive legal reviews.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS