Demystifying America’s Chips War With China

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The fight over semiconductor export controls is really about leadership in artificial intelligence, not trade technicalities.

The Trump administration’s decision to restrict Chinese companies operating outside mainland China from accessing advanced U.S. semiconductors has been described as a narrow export-control issue. It is better understood as recognition of a larger reality: competition between the United States and China is defined by artificial intelligence.

At the heart of the issue is a simple question. Should a Chinese company be able to obtain advanced American chips through an overseas subsidiary while still subject to Chinese law?

That concern is not hypothetical. China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law states that organizations and citizens shall support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence work in accordance with law. (RELATED: The US Ally That Figured Out China’s Gameplan Long Before Washington)

As Chairman John Moolenaar of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has argued, a company’s mailing address does not determine whether it remains subject to Chinese legal obligations. The relevant question is whether the parent company ultimately remains accountable to authorities in Beijing.

Framed narrowly, this looks like a dispute........

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