SAN FRANCISCO: US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Saturday (Dec 2) urged lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to cease China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge applied sciences key to nationwide safety.
Speaking at an annual nationwide defence discussion board in Simi Valley, California, Raimondo referred to as Beijing “the biggest threat we’ve ever had” and harassed “China is not our friend”.
The world’s high two economies are locked in a fierce business and geopolitical rivalry, wherein her division performs a number one position.
In October, Raimondo unveiled a collection of restrictions on the export of superior chips to China, together with these used within the growth of synthetic intelligence (AI), to stop their use by Beijing for its army.
“I know there are CEOs of chip companies in this audience who were a little cranky with me when I did that, because you’re losing revenue. Such is life, protecting our national security matters more than short-term revenue.”
“Newsflash: Democracy is good for your businesses. Rule of law here and around the world is good for your businesses,” she mentioned.
Raimondo famous that Nvidia, maker of probably the most subtle chips wanted to develop the newest era of AI, had developed a product that performs just under the restrict set by her division for export to China.
“That’s what industry does,” she acknowledged, however added, “That’s not productive.”
“Every day China wakes up trying to figure out how to do an end run around our export controls … which means every minute of every day, we have to wake up tightening those controls and being more serious about enforcement with our allies,” she mentioned.
Raimondo harassed that her division wants higher funding to successfully perform its mission.
“I have a US$200 million budget. It’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Come on,” she mentioned. “Let’s go fund this operation like it needs to be funded so we can do it, we need to do to protect America.”
“America leads the world in artificial intelligence … America leads the world in advanced semiconductor design,” Raimondo mentioned. “That’s due to our non-public sector.
“No way are we going to let (China) catch up.”
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/us-commerce-chief-raimondo-warn-china-threat-semiconductors-3962051