Beyond Ukraine, another silent war is also being waged in the world: that of microchips. The great world powers know that whoever dominates the manufacturing of semiconductors will have a privileged technological (and economic) position.
In recent months, belligerent measures in this regard between China and the United States have been repeated one after another. In February, the North American country decided that microchip manufacturing companies that access aid from the multimillion-dollar plan to boost the sector deployed by the United States Government will be prohibited from extending their production capacity to countries like China.
After this, Washington decided to increase pressure on its main technology manufacturing partners for manufacturing microchips, such as the Netherlands and Japan, to introduce their own export restrictions, something that has finally happened.
The Asian response came this July, when China announced controls on the export of gallium and germanium, two key metals in the manufacture of semiconductors. The decision significantly harms, among other countries, the United States.
“In order to safeguard the interests and national security, with the approval of the Council of State, it is decided to implement controls on the export of elements related to gallium and germanium,” said the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs. of the Asian giant.
“If China can’t buy us, they will make the chips,” predicted the Nvidia CEO
Before China adopted the aforementioned restriction, the CEO of the US manufacturer of graphics cards and hardware components Nvidia, Jensen Huang, warned that the US technology industry risks suffering “enormous damage” as a result of the restriction. escalation in tensions between Washington and Beijing over the chip sector.
“If they deprive us of the Chinese market, we do not have a contingency for that. There is no other China ”, he stressed, warning that there would be “enormous damage to American companies ”if they cannot sell in the Asian country.
Furthermore, the CEO of Nvidia warned that “if China cannot buy from the United States, they will simply manufacture it themselves.” And, indeed, that is what is happening: the Asian giant has set to work to win the ‘microchip war’.
The Government of China has decided to boost the sector with economic resources, which is why it is financially supporting a large number of companies that are dedicated to the manufacture of semiconductors, such as MetaX, Biren Technology, Moore Threads, Innosilicon, Zhaoxin, Iluvatar CoreX, DenglinAI or Vast AI Tech.
