The first shots in a bitter Chip war over the control of AI and the metaverse were sounded last month with the announcement by the Biden administration of its Chips and Science Act.
Aimed at promoting the US to the forefront of AI semiconductor development, the $52 bn initiative has already drawn a furious response from the Chinese Government. In a salvo acknowledging the chip war’s start it accused the US of sabotaging China’s chip industry.
According to Yu Xiekang, the vice president of the China Semiconductor Industry Association: “The landmark blueprint contains elements that violate fair market principles and targets Beijing’s own efforts to build a semiconductor industry.
Chinese accuse US of chip war policy
Speaking last August Xiekang added: “The US Chips Act signed into law this month and part of an overall package of incentives worth in excess of $200 bn is intended to give China’s rivals a helping hand.” Xiekang went onto say that parts of the initiative clearly discriminate against China.
A response from Xiekang that underlines the crucial position that AI chip development will play in the future. As AI chips will underpin the 21st century technologies of virtual reality, the metaverse and AI research itself.
According to experts interviewed in the PassW0rd radio programme ‘The Chips are down: the making of the metaverse’, produced by Future Intelligence for ResonanceFM, the US has announced a battle for the control of the technology of the future.
Laying down a marker in the metaverse
“For example, let’s say that IBM issues a press release that it has made a breakthrough. They believe they are on the verge of superhuman intelligence. They are ready to show demonstrations next month and ship it next year, unimaginable right now. Think about players like President Xi or President Putin. What they would see from their eyes is that those guys, the Americans, are going to win this race,” said the famous Finnish hacker and futurist Mikko Hypponen in an exclusive interview for PassW0rd, adding.
“And if they win this race, this is the most important race. If they win this race, they will win everything. The Americans will be superior in everything forever. They will win every war. And if that’s the case, then the obvious thing to do is to steal that technology at any price. Or if you can’t steal that technology, then you must destroy that technology, so your enemies don’t get it,” said Hypponen, author of ‘If it’s smart, it’s vulnerable’.
US Chip war blatant move to help US industry
The Biden Administration’s motivation for the law has been made extremely clear. The acronym Chips is not a reference to semi-conductors but is short for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors.
Announced as a move to help alleviate the global semi-conductor shortage. The legislation will provide subsidies and tax credits to chip makers based in the US. With funds allocated to companies prepared to engage in research, build new production plants and train workers in the US.
One controversial provision bans any chip manufacturer accepting support from the US from making any further investments in China.
Though the initiative does allow chip production to continue in China and Russia by companies receiving subsidies. It states production can be no more advanced than 28 nanometers.
The car market is one currently one indicator of the severity of the semiconductor shortage. With analysts citing chip shortages as one of the reasons for many models doubling in price over in three years. A factor that can only increase in importance with the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and the advent of autonomous vehicles.
