The tech industry has recently been buzzing!First, chip giant NVIDIA suddenly imposed an “indefinite sales ban“, saying goodbye to its latest H20 chip, which will no longer be sold to China, Israel, and a few other countries!
Over in the Netherlands, they seemed to have a “telepathic” connection, immediately following suit by announcing restrictions on the export of mid-to-high-end lithography machines!This wave of actions feels eerily familiar, doesn’t it? A discerning eye can see that there is definitely an “invisible hand” at play, preventing these companies from doing business with us!So, who is this “big hand”? Who can make NVIDIA and ASML tremble at its command?Is it the new official’s “three fires” upon taking office? Right from the start, they are “firing shots” at China!Just recently (in March of this year), the newly appointed US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, who has only been in office for two months, went all out at a meeting!She pointed her finger and said that those companies and countries selling chips to China are simply “selling their souls”!
“Some people are making money by reselling our chips to China… They are helping forces that are ‘not on the same path’ as us!”
This Secretary has elevated normal business practices to the level of a “moral judgment”. She bluntly laid it out: we are going to impose export controls, and you countries must choose whether to stand with us, the United States, and our “freedom values”, or sell your “soul” for a little bit of “money”!In order to rally allies to “surround” us, this Secretary even played the “Taiwan card”, alarmingly stating: “If these chips (referring to those produced in Taiwan) do not reach the US, your automotive production lines will come to a halt!”
She aims to tightly bind chip supply chain security with sensitive geopolitical issues, creating a sense of “industrial panic” among allies, making them feel that for our safety, they must follow the US in restricting China!She even specifically named our DeepSeek! Accusing them of possibly “misusing” American chips, and revealed that an investigation is underway to see if they obtained restricted chips through “improper means”.Internal news has leaked that the US government may impose comprehensive sanctions on DeepSeek, preventing it from purchasing American technology, and even possibly restricting American users from accessing its services!This is just a repeat of the tactics used against Huawei! First, find a pretext, and then gradually squeeze you out!This is not an isolated incident; it is a complete set of “strangulation” tactics!Raimondo’s statements are not just her own “mad ramblings”; they are part of the US strategy to “surround” China’s chip industry!
Forcing allies to “cut off” support: Pressuring Japan and the Netherlands, not only preventing them from selling new equipment but also prohibiting engineers from maintaining equipment already sold to China! The implication is: we gave you the goods, but we won’t let you use them comfortably; they might as well turn into scrap metal! How insidious is that?Full chain blockade: Continuously tightening export restrictions, from lithography, ion implantation to etching and deposition, they want to cut off every link in chip manufacturing!Choking on raw materials: Even key raw materials like gallium and germanium, where we have an advantage, are now subject to export controls.
The latest regulations are even more outrageous, requiring chip foundries (like TSMC and Samsung) to be responsible for advanced chips exported to China, proving that the chip performance does not exceed standards! This simply shifts all responsibility and risk onto the production side!Every single action has a clear purpose: to use every means possible to encircle and block China’s chip and related industries, with the ultimate goal of forcing us to make concessions at the trade negotiation table and accept their unequal demands!Faced with the US’s aggressive “chokehold” tactics, what can we do? Raise our hands in surrender? That’s not our style!“You want to fight? We will accompany you to the end!” Our counterattack has already begun, and every move strikes at the “vital point”!Precise countermeasures, cutting off your “supplies”! You restrict my chips? Fine! We will directly limit the export of key raw materials like gallium and germanium to US military users! These two materials are crucial for chip manufacturing and high-tech weapons, and we dominate global production! Let you taste the bitterness of being “choked”! This is called “using their own methods against them”!Rule “magic modification”, cutting off the roots! Our semiconductor industry association has issued new regulations, determining the origin of chips based on the “wafer flow location”! Chips made in the US want to enter China? Sorry, high tariffs await! But those made in Taiwan, South Korea, etc.? No problem! This move directly raises costs for companies (like Texas Instruments) that set up factories in the US, while those relying on TSMC for foundry services (like AMD and Qualcomm) are relatively safe. Isn’t this indirectly encouraging global chip companies to keep high-end manufacturing close to us?The DeepSeek that was named is said to have trained a model close to GPT-4 level at an extremely low cost! No one can stop the pace of our independent research and development!
Even Microsoft’s president has publicly warned: restricting chips to China is a “strategic mistake” that will only alienate allies and even push them towards China!China is one of the largest semiconductor markets in the world! Do you expect Intel and Qualcomm to give up such a large piece of cake? That would be stabbing themselves in the back! Which capitalist would want to go against money?This approach of pulling allies into a “small circle” is also not well-received internationally! The Netherlands had previously reached a verbal agreement with the US, but later changed its stance, making the US look foolish! Every country has its own calculations and will not blindly follow the US’s lead, sacrificing their own interests to fulfill American hegemony.The Secretary Raimondo’s bluster sounds intimidating, but it feels more like a desperate “one-man show”. In today’s globalized world, do you really think you can rely on blockades and sanctions to stifle a major power’s technological development? Too naive!This will only act like a stimulant, making us more determined to pursue independent innovation, increasing R&D investment, and striving to break through technological bottlenecks!
Do you remember a few years ago when the trade war just started? The US made a list of 35 technologies they wanted to choke us with, and what happened? In just a few years, we broke through more than half of them, and the rest are catching up quickly!What do you think about the US’s actions and our counterattacks? Come to the comments section and share your thoughts! Do you think the US’s “chokehold” tactic can still be effective? How far do you think we are on the road to chip independence?