Chip War Weaknesses: The Problem with TSMC’s China Exposure
January 15, 2025Even as Washington pours tens of billions of dollars into domestic semiconductor production, even as Washington strives to build domestic industrial capacity, the US does so on a foundation that Beijing controls.
Orienting Economic Statecraft for China’s Military-Civil Fusion: LiDAR in the Field
September 18, 2024The volume and variety of apparent military applications of LiDAR suggests that China may well have concepts of operations and use cases for LiDAR that could generate surprise on the battlefield – and off.
To make US manufacturing more competitive, power people and machines
July 8, 2024How America navigates its current manufacturing boom and leverages it to boost competitiveness and productivity is a central question of our current moment. The right technology can help us figure out the answers.
Sizing up the competition: asymmetries in the US-China tech contest
June 27, 2024The US and China are locked in a technology competition. Less well understood is how each side assesses the contours of and strategies for winning that contest. Yet any serious game plan must contend with the opponent’s view of the competitive landscape, or risk being outflanked and outplayed.
Cooperate or Compete? The Zero-Sum Game of AI Engagement with China
March 26, 2024The United States and China have reportedly reached an agreement to extend the decades-long cooperative framework of the US-China Science and Technology Agreement. That recent move follows Biden [...]
COMAC Comes to Europe: strategic implications of the commercial aerospace battleground
January 11, 2024China co-opted and conquered foreign solar energy and high-speed rail players. Will incumbent aerospace giants fall for the same playbook and spell their own disruption? The question is an existential one, and Western incumbents' survival hinges on weaning off the Chinese market and ceasing cooperation with Chinese players.
The US national innovation base has critical weaknesses. Just look at Starlink.
September 1, 2023To compete with China, the US needs a robust industrial and innovation base, able to withstand attacks on the battlefield and the factory floor. Real American dynamism – and real competitive advantage – stem from credible and sustainable power. Starlink's, and more broadly Elon Musk's, dependence on China underscore the vulnerabilities in current US national defense strategy.
Battlefield Cyber: America’s Software Meltdown — and What Must Be Done to Fix It
May 3, 2023America’s software is profoundly vulnerable, which is one reason China and Russia have been able to penetrate US computer systems so deeply. This essay, adapted from the forthcoming “Battlefield Cyber: How China and Russia Are Undermining Our Democracy and National Security" outlines a solution.
Why Dell Ditching Chinese Chips Is Great, but Not Enough
January 18, 2023For decades, US companies have been swayed by the siren song of cheap production and rapid market growth in China. Dell, which announced at the start of this year that it intends to stop using semiconductors made in China by 2024, could be at the vanguard of reversing this trend. Or it could be putting a band-aid on a bullet hole.
The US and China Are in a Space Race: Who Is Counting Laps?
November 3, 2022As rhetoric around the US-China space race picks up, what does the competitive balance actually look like? The two country’s relative satellite capacity offers one angle in – and one where overall numbers tell only part of the story.
China’s COVID Antiviral Pill Shows That the US Is Running the Wrong Race
July 10, 2022If the US is to have any hope of a productive economic future – and if the US is to compete effectively with China – it needs to shift from a focus on R&D to a focus on application and industrialization.
At a Time of Runaway Inflation, Tech Is an Ally Not a Foe
June 11, 2022It’s time for Washington to start working with, not against, big tech; to start leveraging American industrial scale in order to fight inflation and for the global order.
Make the Right Choice for the US-China Tech Competition
May 26, 2022US industry – powered by scale and global reach – fueled the country’s rise. The US needs that industrial strength now. But today, it will come from tech not from steel. And it will only come if that tech operates on big platforms.
In the Global Semiconductor Race, the US Should Remember to Tie Its Shoes
May 9, 2022Washington needs to invest not only in next-generation technological advance, but also into semiconductor production itself, and the materials necessary for it. Such investments are critical for a robust industrial base. They would also be diplomatically advantageous.
