The U.S. continues to have enormous advantages in many critical technology sectors, and China’s system is plenty capable of self-inflicted wounds.
The U.S. can still “win” the race for the most efficient semiconductors. Here, Dutch semiconductor company ASML shows a silicon wafer seen through a lens element. Credit: ASML
In his first press conference as president last month, President Biden said that his administration’s approach to China was not confrontation but “steep competition.”
And for all the challenges the U.S. faces in dealing with a country that is now an economic superpower, and increasingly confident — so much so that at a meeting in Alaska a few weeks ago, Yang Jiechi could use America’s own racial tensions to criticize an American delegation led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken — this “steep competition” is still America’s to “win.” The U.S. continues to have enormous advantages in many critical technology sectors, and China’s system is plenty capable of self-inflicted wounds.
One case in point is semiconductors.
It’s old news that semiconductors are at the tip of this steep competition. China plans to invest more than $1.4 trillion over the next five years to reach some level of self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, the U.S. is pushing American companies to
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