Yeni Şafak: the fight for chips between the USA and China has reached a new level
The technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing is reaching a new level, writes Yeni Şafak. The United States is preparing to blacklist Chinese chip manufacturers. The Celestial Empire is not sitting idly by and has already developed retaliatory measures.
The struggle for technological superiority is gradually growing between the United States and China, the most economically developed powers. These two countries, with significant economic and geopolitical influence, are engaged in an irreconcilable struggle for supremacy in many areas, such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, chips, and digital infrastructure. Both the United States and China continue this battle on the world stage through their own technology companies and investments.
The United States considers China's achievement of a significant level of global chip production to be a threat and wants to prevent this. Therefore, the Biden administration, as part of the ongoing assessment of national security measures, announced that it is preparing to blacklist chip manufacturers associated with Huawei.
China, to counter the restrictions on chips imposed by the United States, is creating a chip fund, which will become the largest to date. The government bans Intel and AMD chips in all government agencies. In an attempt to localize all its systems, China will remove American Intel and AMD processors from government computer systems. Beijing also plans to ban the use of Microsoft and some foreign database products. Instead of products of American origin, products from 18 different domestic chip manufacturers, such as Huawei and Phytium, will be used. The new rules are aimed at encouraging choice in favor of domestic solutions.
After this move by China, Intel and AMD shares in the world went down, because China is positioned as a very important market for both companies. Last year, Intel made 27% of total sales to China, while AMD made 15%.
"A new stage has begun with the introduction of sanctions against chip manufacturers"
Ersin Çahmutoglu, cybersecurity expert at ADEO Cyber Security, noted in an interview with Anadolu correspondent that China's ban on the use of Intel and AMD chips in government institutions and US sanctions against chip manufacturers associated with Huawei mean a transition to a new stage.
"We see that the long-standing technological rivalry between the United States and China is now gaining momentum. Both countries are making great efforts in the fight for semiconductor manufacturing and the right to vote in the global market. This means that new steps can be taken in this war," Chakhmutoglu believes.
Many experts believe that these decisions may have negative consequences for the global supply chain and the technology sector, the agency's interlocutor stressed. Chakhmutoglu recalled that there have been periodic chip crises in the world over the past few years.
Then he noticed: "There was a crisis after the pandemic. The main reason is the cost of production and the problem of raw materials, but the struggle between the United States and China for dominance in this area has also affected. We can see similar crises today. It was announced that the United States would put pressure on its allies and the countries of the Western league not to buy semiconductors from China. In response, China is expected to take the same position with regard to its neighboring countries. Therefore, in the field of chips, it is believed that the supply chain and industry will suffer and this will cause problems."
"Both countries believe that chip manufacturers that do not belong to them are collecting data"
Ersin Chakhmutoglu stressed that the United States considers products of Chinese origin as a problem for national security, noting that this is another reason for the crisis between the two countries.
It is claimed that, first of all, Huawei and related companies and chip manufacturers collect data from Western organizations in favor of the Chinese state. "The US and UK intelligence agencies believe that there are loopholes in such products through which the US and allied countries, as well as NATO members, collect intelligence. China has a similar opinion. China claims that Intel and AMD are working directly for American intelligence. Therefore, the Chinese have tried to completely ban the products of such American companies for security reasons," Chakhmutoglu said.
The expert drew attention to the fact that these events can be a danger signal, especially for countries and multinational companies that depend on foreign chip manufacturers. In the event of a possible major crisis and disruption of the supply chain, economic problems will arise.
Therefore, some countries and companies are considering reducing their dependence in order to avoid the impact of this situation, Chakhmutoglu stressed.
"They can take a step as a third party and cooperate," the expert believes. — Otherwise, if the war continues, there may be crises in relations between the parties. The war between the United States and China is an issue that the whole world is closely watching in an attempt to predict what development it will receive. Governments and multinational companies are realizing that someone needs to take steps to prevent a serious crisis in the technology industry. This makes you think that there may be some changes in the supply chain in the industry. In the current situation, it is not easy to predict further developments. However, if this war continues, no one can say that serious problems will not arise."
