The Importance of Chips in AI and China's Challenges in Chip Manufacturing

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Chips are essential for AI, and China faces challenges in chip manufacturing due to export controls. While there are loopholes allowing access to some high-end chips, being cut off could hinder China's ability to innovate. First-mover advantage in chip technology is crucial, requiring experience, expertise, and capital investments. Both the US and China aim to invest heavily in semiconductor industries, but the complexity and global dependencies in chip manufacturing pose significant challenges, making it difficult for China to catch up solely through investments.

In the debate over slowing down AI, we often hear the same argument against regulation. “What about China? We can’t let China get ahead.” To dig into the nuances of this argument, Tristan and Aza speak with academic researcher Jeffrey Ding and journalist Karen Hao, who take us through what’s really happening in Chinese AI development. They address China’s advantages and limitations, what risks are overblown, and what, in this multi-national competition, is at stake as we imagine the best possible future for everyone.

CORRECTION: Jeffrey Ding says the export controls on advanced chips that were established in October 2022 only apply to military end-users. The controls also impose a license requirement on the export of those advanced chips to any China-based end-user.

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