In the New York Times headline, late in the day, “Government restricts China’s access to chip technology.” Below, it says it is “the clearest sign yet that a dangerous standoff between the two superpowers is increasingly taking place in the technological sphere.”
He added that “the measures come at a sensitive time, when Chinese leaders will hold a major political meeting from the 16th.”
Without paying much attention, the Financial Times also linked the “new attempt to decouple China from the US in technology” with the congress “at which President Xi Jinping is expected to seal the third term”.
The paper points out, from a Washington-based strategic consultancy, ASG, that “the US has essentially declared war on China’s ability to advance the use of high-performance computing.”
And that there will be “many losers” around the world, including US companies Nvidia, AMD, Applied Materials and Lam Research and non-US companies such as Dutch ASML and Taiwanese giant TSMC.
That’s because “they are trying to block the development of China’s technological power in every way.”
In the Wall Street Journal, the news also did not make the headlines and came even below the collapse of companies in the sector, with the fall of their shares this Friday (7), relating Nvidia, AMD, ASML, the also American Intel, the South Korean Samsung—and TSMC.
Bloomberg, which had already warned of the measures earlier this week, linked the announcement with the debacle in its headline, “Biden tightens chip rules for China on chaotic day for the sector.”
It says that “losses are generalized with the escalation of tensions”. And that the “US chip industry has expressed concern that aggressive actions could put Americans at a disadvantage.”
But the Biden administration argues that the measures “send a clear message that US technology leadership is about American values,” not just trade.
The same Bloomberg even more prominently, on Friday, that it had partial access to “US war games on the risk to TSMC”, in the event of an occupation or embargo of Taiwan by China:
“Contingency planning has been stepped up, according to people familiar with the Biden administration’s deliberations. The scenarios attach heightened strategic importance to the island’s chip industry, led by TSMC. In the worst case, the US considers evacuating engineers from Taiwan. “
Bloomberg notes that “some advocate the US making it clear to China that it would destroy TSMC facilities if the island were occupied.”
The extensive report emphasizes the “paradox” between US pressure on Taiwan to cut chip ties with China and the US effort to “reduce Taiwan’s role in the supply chain”. Encouraging new factories on American soil, for example, in the words of the Biden administration itself, “substantially cuts our dependence on Taiwan.”
In Beijing, a first reaction came from the China Daily, the state-owned English-language newspaper aimed at an international audience, noting that the “action against China affects all players in the chip industry” (pictured above).
He hears from a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade: “It will be a huge blow not only for US chip companies, but also for the global industrial chain, given China’s weight as the world’s largest chip market and its growing presence in manufacturing”.
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