The US in October introduced expansive chip export controls in an effort to slow China’s progress in artificial intelligence and super computers and make it harder for the country to manufacture advanced semiconductors.
The controls are arguably the toughest measures President Joe Biden has taken against China and his first serious attempt to slow its military modernisation by targeting the technologies behind everything from nuclear weapons modelling to hypersonic weapons development.
“When Huawei was targeted, it was trade tensions during peacetime. Now we’re in a state close to war,” said Hideki Wakabayashi, professor at Tokyo University of Science, referring to the Chinese telecoms equipment group.