U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Alan Esteves recently gave an exclusive interview to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo, talking about the U.S. export control policy on China's semiconductor industry. He said that the purpose of the United States is to prevent China from developing its own advanced chip manufacturing capabilities, because it is related to the United States' best and diplomatic interests. He also revealed that the U.S. is considering restricting Chinese users from using U.S. cloud services to prevent China from using artificial intelligence technology to improve its military and electronic warfare capabilities. He believes that export controls are the right mechanism to deal with these problems, but if Chinese companies dump low-end chips on the global market, the United States has other tools to deal with it, such as countervailing duties and ** investigations.
Estwais is the direct director of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the U.S. foreign agency, which is responsible for developing, enforcing and revising export control lists, including lists for commodities and businesses. BIS's export control list involves ECCN codes for various items that require permission from BIS for export under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). BIS also restricts the export of technology, and there are three main lists: the Denied Persons List, the Unverified List, and the Entity List. These listed entities are all believed to be engaged in activities that threaten U.S. *** and foreign policy, and are therefore subject to U.S. sanctions and prohibitions.
In the interview, Esteves singled out U.S. restrictions on advanced chip-making equipment for Chinese companies, saying, "These controls are also related to the parts and components of these products." Sooner or later, these machines will break down to a greater or lesser extent, which will hinder further progress in China's chip industry." What he meant was that even if Chinese companies were able to buy advanced chip manufacturing equipment from the United States, they would not be able to obtain repair and replacement parts services for the equipment due to U.S. export controls, so the life and performance of the equipment would be affected, and eventually China's chip manufacturing capacity would lag behind the United States. The premise of this scenario is that China will not be able to find original or replacement parts in the short term, nor will it be able to independently develop alternative equipment in the long term.
Estwais also confirmed that the U.S.** is considering restricting Chinese users' access to and use of cloud services provided by U.S. companies, saying, "Now, AI itself is quite ubiquitous, and the concern is....AI is likely to command and control military logistics and military radars in the future, and electronic warfare capabilities will also be enhanced, so we want to make sure that we have control over their use." His concern is that China could use U.S. cloud services to capture and analyze vast amounts of data to improve the level of artificial intelligence, which in turn can be applied in the military and electronic warfare fields, posing a threat to the United States. Therefore, the United States wants to stop the development of artificial intelligence in China by restricting the access of Chinese users to cloud services.
Esteves also said that while export controls are the right mechanism to deal with certain issues, they are not necessarily designed to deal with Chinese companies moving into the global market"Dumping low-end chips"The best tool for potential attempts. "There are other tools to deal with dumping, such as countervailing duty investigations," he said. What he means is that if Chinese companies use the low-price strategy to export a large number of low-end chips to the global market, so as to occupy market share, the United States can punish and restrict Chinese companies through countervailing duties and ** investigations to protect the American chip industry.
To sum up, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Alan Esteves gave an exclusive interview to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo, mainly talking about the U.S. export control policy to China's semiconductor industry, and the measures that the U.S. is considering to restrict Chinese users from using U.S. cloud services. He said that the purpose of the United States is to prevent China from developing its own advanced chip manufacturing capabilities and using artificial intelligence technology to improve its military and electronic warfare capabilities, because it is related to the United States' best and diplomatic interests. He also said that the United States has other tools to counter dumping by Chinese companies and protect the American chip industry. His remarks reflect the hostility and suppression of China's semiconductor industry by the United States, and also expose the hegemonism and double standards of the United States.