China has overtaken the United States in key technologies. Can a new law help?
As Congress debated whether and how to support US chipmakers and research into other technologies, China took ahead.
In the weeks leading up to the end of 13 months of House-Senate discussions and the passage of the Chips and Chips Act, $280 billion science, China's leading state-backed chipmaker has cleared a major technological hurdle that has shocked the world.
Experts are still assessing how China has apparently taken a leap forward in its effort to make a semiconductor whose circuitry is so small - about 10,000 times thinner than a human's hair - that it rivals those made in Taiwan, which supplies both China and the West. The Biden administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the highly specialized equipment to make these chips out of Chinese hands, as advances in chipmaking are now scrutinized as a way to define national power — similarly. as nuclear tests or precision-guided missiles. were during a previous Cold War.
No one knows yet if China can exploit the breakthrough on a large scale; it can take years. But one lesson seemed clear: As Congress debated, tweaked, and debated whether and how to support U.S. chipmakers and a wide range of research into other technologies — from advanced batteries to robotics and quantum computing - China was making progress, betting it would take Washington years to pull itself together.
"Our Congress is working at political speed," said Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive who later headed the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which last year warned of the enormous dangers of falling behind in a "foundational" technology like the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors in a world of vulnerable supply chains. "The Chinese government is working at commercial speed."
In China, the drive to catch up and manufacture the most advanced chips is part of "Made in China 2025" program. This effort began in 2015. While few members of Congress want to concede this point, the technologies that the United States will fund when President Biden signs the bill into law, as he promised to do on Thursday, largely duplicate the Chinese list.
This is classic industrial policy, although leaders of both parties avoid the term. The words convey a sense of state-controlled planning that runs counter to most Republicans and offers direct support and tax credits to some of America's biggest corporations, which has some Democrats cowering in anger. p>
But 2025 isn't far off, which means the money will just flow in as the Chinese and other competitors move on to their next goals. Meanwhile, the American semiconductor industry has withered to the point that none of the most advanced chips are made in the United States, even though the fundamental technology was born here and gave its name to Silicon Valley.
As Congress debated whether and how to support US chipmakers and research into other technologies, China took ahead.
In the weeks leading up to the end of 13 months of House-Senate discussions and the passage of the Chips and Chips Act, $280 billion science, China's leading state-backed chipmaker has cleared a major technological hurdle that has shocked the world.
Experts are still assessing how China has apparently taken a leap forward in its effort to make a semiconductor whose circuitry is so small - about 10,000 times thinner than a human's hair - that it rivals those made in Taiwan, which supplies both China and the West. The Biden administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the highly specialized equipment to make these chips out of Chinese hands, as advances in chipmaking are now scrutinized as a way to define national power — similarly. as nuclear tests or precision-guided missiles. were during a previous Cold War.
No one knows yet if China can exploit the breakthrough on a large scale; it can take years. But one lesson seemed clear: As Congress debated, tweaked, and debated whether and how to support U.S. chipmakers and a wide range of research into other technologies — from advanced batteries to robotics and quantum computing - China was making progress, betting it would take Washington years to pull itself together.
"Our Congress is working at political speed," said Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive who later headed the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which last year warned of the enormous dangers of falling behind in a "foundational" technology like the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors in a world of vulnerable supply chains. "The Chinese government is working at commercial speed."
In China, the drive to catch up and manufacture the most advanced chips is part of "Made in China 2025" program. This effort began in 2015. While few members of Congress want to concede this point, the technologies that the United States will fund when President Biden signs the bill into law, as he promised to do on Thursday, largely duplicate the Chinese list.
This is classic industrial policy, although leaders of both parties avoid the term. The words convey a sense of state-controlled planning that runs counter to most Republicans and offers direct support and tax credits to some of America's biggest corporations, which has some Democrats cowering in anger. p>
But 2025 isn't far off, which means the money will just flow in as the Chinese and other competitors move on to their next goals. Meanwhile, the American semiconductor industry has withered to the point that none of the most advanced chips are made in the United States, even though the fundamental technology was born here and gave its name to Silicon Valley.
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