Does the U.S. Chip Ban on China Amount to a Declaration of War in the Computer Age?
CounterPunchOct 31, 2022
The Facts
US-based computer chip manufacturer Nvidia Corp. confirmed on Monday that it's offering a new advanced graphic processing unit for the Chinese market that satisfies export controls imposed by the US government in October.
The confirmation follows a report by Reuters that Chinese companies were advertising their latest products with Nvidia’s new A800 graphics processing unit (GPU).
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
US sanctions are designed to contain China as a rival economic power, but they may well end up backfiring due to the interconnected nature of the global economy. This aggressive global peer competition may even end up triggering a war that would likely envelope many other countries. At best, sanctions will merely postpone Chinese rise as a peer military and economic power, but not prevent its emergence.
Pro-establishment narrative
Beijing is to blame for the shift in US policy. As Xi Jinping has called for a world-class military to tip East Asia’s balance of power in China’s favor and seeks to become technologically self-sufficient, it would be foolish for him not to expect the US to use its leverage to try and counter these attempts.