US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Saturday called on elected officials in Congress, Silicon Valley and US allies to prevent China from accessing semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies crucial to national security.
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She also spoke of the “most significant threat we have ever faced” and said: “China is not our friend,” during an annual national defense forum in Simi Valley, California.
The world’s two largest economies engage in a fierce commercial and geopolitical rivalry, and his ministry plays a leading role.
In October, Gina Raimondo unveiled a series of new restrictions on the export of the most efficient chips to China, in particular those used for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), to prevent their use by Beijing for military.
“I know that there are semiconductor company bosses in the public who are not very happy, because they are losing revenue. But that’s life. Protecting our national security is more important than short-term revenue,” the minister said on Saturday.
“I have some information for you,” she added. “Democracy is good for business. (…) in the long term, it is worth working with us to defend the national security of our country.
AFP
She noted that Nvidia, the specialist in the most sophisticated chips needed to develop the latest generation of AI, had developed a semiconductor with performance just under the limit set by her ministry for export to China.
“It’s normal, that’s how the industry works,” she admitted. But “it’s not productive.”
“Every day China wakes up trying to find a way to get around our export controls, which means every minute of every day we have to strengthen those controls and enforce them better, with our allies, with the Dutch , with the Japanese and with the Europeans,” she declared.
AFP
She stressed that her department’s measures would not be effective without U.S. allies, and asked Congress to help fund the cause.
“I have a budget of $200 million. It’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Let’s be serious, let’s finance this operation (at the height of the stakes): to protect America,” she insisted.
“America leads the world in artificial intelligence and in the design of advanced semiconductors,” she continued.
“It is thanks to our private sector (…) It is thanks to our public sector, which invests, that we are a few years ahead of China. There is no question of letting them catch up.”
