REUTERS
"Analysis: Banned U.S. AI chips in high demand at Chinese state institutes"
By Eduardo Baptista
September 6, 2022
BEIJING, Sept 6 (Reuters) - High-profile universities and state-run research institutes in China have been relying on a U.S. computing chip to power their artificial intelligence (AI) technology but whose export to the country Washington has now restricted, a Reuters review showed.
U.S. chip designer Nvidia Corp last week said U.S. government officials have ordered it to stop exporting its A100 and H100 chips to China.
Local peer Advanced Micro Devices Inc also said new licence requirements now prevent export to China of its advanced AI chip MI250.
The development signalled a major escalation of a U.S. campaign to stymie China's technological capability as tension bubbles over the fate of Taiwan, where chips for Nvidia and almost every other major chip firm are manufactured.
China views Taiwan as a rogue province and has not ruled out force to bring the democratically governed island under its control.
Responding to the restrictions, China branded them a futile attempt to impose a technology blockade on a rival.
A Reuters review of more than a dozen publicly available government tenders over the past two years indicated that among some of China's most strategically important research institutes, there is high demand - and need - for Nvidia's signature A100 chips.
Tsinghua University, China's highest-ranked higher education institution globally, spent over $400,000 last October on two Nvidia AI supercomputers, each powered by four A100 chips, one of the tenders showed.
In the same month, the Institute of Computing Technology, part of top research group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), spent around $250,000 on A100 chips.
The school of artificial intelligence at a CAS university in July this year also spent about $200,000 on high-tech equipment including a server partly powered by A100 chips.
In November, the cybersecurity college of Guangdong-based Jinan University spent over $93,000 on an Nvidia AI supercomputer, while its school of intelligent systems science and engineering spent almost $100,000 on eight A100 chips just last month.
Less well-known institutes and universities supported by municipal and provincial governments, such as in Shandong, Henan and Chongqing, also bought A100 chips, the tenders showed.
None of the research departments responded to requests for comment on the effect on their projects of the A100 export curb.
Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment.
Last Wednesday, it said it had booked $400 million in Chinese sales of the affected chips this quarter which could be lost if its customers decide not to buy alternative Nvidia products.
It also said it planned to apply for exemptions to the new rules.
REPLACEMENTS
The lack of chips from the likes of Nvidia and AMD is likely to hamper efforts at Chinese organisations to cost-effectively carry out the kind of advanced computing used for tasks such as image and speech recognition.
Image recognition and natural language processing are common in consumer applications such as smartphones that can answer queries and tag photos.
They also have military uses such as scouring satellite imagery for weapons or bases and filtering digital communications for intelligence-gathering purposes.
Experts said there are few Chinese chipmakers that could readily replace such advanced Nvidia and AMD chips, and buyers could instead use multiple lower-end chips to replicate the processing power.
Reuters could not locate any Chinese government tenders mentioning the other two restricted chips - Nvidia's H100 and AMD's MI250.
But some of the tenders showed, for instance, chip purchases from U.S. technology firm Intel Corp and proposals for purchasing less-sophisticated Nvidia products, underscoring China's reliance on an array of U.S. chip technology.
One tender in May showed the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, a research institute of the Ministry of Natural Resources, considering an Nvidia AI supercomputer to improve its ability to create three-dimensional images from geographic data.
"The proposed NVIDIA DGX A100 server will be equipped with 8 A100 chips with 40GB memory, which will greatly improve the data-carrying capacity and computing speed, shorten the scientific research process, and get scientific research results faster and better," the tender read.
The National University of Defense and Technology (NUDT), which describes itself as a "military university" and "under the direct leadership of the Central Military Commission", China's top military body, is also among the buyers of A100 chips.
The NUDT, home of Tianhe-2, one of the world's most powerful supercomputers, has been on a U.S. blacklist since 2015 due to national security concerns, eliminating the university's access to the Intel processors it uses in its supercomputers.
One May tender showed the institute planned to buy 24 Nvidia graphics processing units with AI applications.
The tender was published again last month, indicating NUDT had not yet found the right deal or supplier.
NUDT did not respond to a request for comment.
Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Additional reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Christopher Cushing
https://www.reuters.com/technology/bann ... 022-09-06/
CHINA
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"Analysis: U.S. ban on Nvidia, AMD chips seen boosting Chinese rivals"
By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis
September 8, 2022
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. ban on exports to China of Nvidia and AMD's flagship artificial intelligence chips will create new business opportunities for domestic startups jockeying for a piece of China's fast-growing data center chip market, industry executives and analysts told Reuters.
The ban is part of a longer effort by the U.S. government to crack down on U.S. contributions to Chinese artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, or supercomputing.
Last year, U.S. officials put seven Chinese supercomputing entities on an economic blacklist, and last week they banned Nvidia and AMD's chips from export to China "to keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands."
On Thursday, an independent group that measures artificial intelligence speeds published new data that can help back up the claims of little-known Chinese startup Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co that its latest chip has bested the performance of one of the high-end chips banned by the U.S. government.
The milestone is viewed as an opening for Chinese domestic chip companies to service Chinese customers cut off from access to U.S. chips, experts said.
"The benchmarks are broadly representative of image processing and natural language processing, which are two fairly significant AI workloads," said David Kanter, a founder of MLCommons, the group that publishes the results.
"It's pretty impressive."
The promising performance rankings come after years of financing and development from Chinese startups and venture firms, including several investors from the U.S., to create domestic alternatives to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc chips.
The rise of AI chip startups in China could upset plans by the U.S. to slow down China's development of computing tools needed for military applications such as designing nuclear weapons.
Those tasks often involve running computer simulations with high-precision - something the Nvidia and AMD chips excel at.
Biren, founded by alumni of Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Nvidia, has publicly said it would focus on selling its BR100 chip to private data center and cloud customers.
The company says it has no plans to sell to the military.
Jack Dongarra, a distinguished professor of computer science who helps lead the Top500 ranking of the fastest supercomputers says he's seen this scenario play out before.
"The U.S. embargoed Intel chips from going to specific places in China that are and were developing high performance computers," he said.
"The result was that China designed its chips for its supercomputers."
CCS Insight chip analyst Wayne Lam said Biren could be in for a "success story, having demonstrated this capability and now having this business opportunity fall on them".
He said Chinese computing groups will likely "have to re-tinker their systems and figure out how to build for something that they can get."
Still, some analysts and U.S. chip executives say to gain AI market share companies need more than just a fast chip.
They need to build a software ecosystem for the chips that can compete with Nvidia's software platform called CUDA which dominates the AI market.
"New Chinese firms in the space will have to prove that they are reliable, can iterate hardware at the cutting edge..."
"And then offer a compelling software ecosystem," said Paul Triolo, senior vice president for China at strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group.
Also active in developing Nvidia alternatives are Chinese firms like Cambricon, Alibaba Group's PingTouGe, Iluvatar CoreX, Denglin Technology, Moore Threads, Vastai Technologies and MetaX.
Data firm PitchBook shows that those top startups alone have raised $2.5 billion in recent years, including from Shanghai government-backed fund Shanghai Guosheng Group and Hillhouse Capital, which counts several U.S. pension funds and Yale University as limited partners.
Other investors include the Chinese entities of big-name Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Sequoia China and Lightspeed China Partners.
Those investments have caused concern for some who are pushing to limit where U.S. capital can be invested overseas, said Matt Ocko, managing partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm DCVC.
His firm is a major investor in companies that work closely with the U.S. defense and intelligence communities.
"It's not acceptable for major pools of U.S. capital to fund AI chips and other PRC (Chinese) military tech that threatens U.S. national security."
Reporting By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis; Editing by Kenneth Li and Christopher Cushing
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-b ... 022-09-08/
"Analysis: U.S. ban on Nvidia, AMD chips seen boosting Chinese rivals"
By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis
September 8, 2022
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. ban on exports to China of Nvidia and AMD's flagship artificial intelligence chips will create new business opportunities for domestic startups jockeying for a piece of China's fast-growing data center chip market, industry executives and analysts told Reuters.
The ban is part of a longer effort by the U.S. government to crack down on U.S. contributions to Chinese artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, or supercomputing.
Last year, U.S. officials put seven Chinese supercomputing entities on an economic blacklist, and last week they banned Nvidia and AMD's chips from export to China "to keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands."
On Thursday, an independent group that measures artificial intelligence speeds published new data that can help back up the claims of little-known Chinese startup Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co that its latest chip has bested the performance of one of the high-end chips banned by the U.S. government.
The milestone is viewed as an opening for Chinese domestic chip companies to service Chinese customers cut off from access to U.S. chips, experts said.
"The benchmarks are broadly representative of image processing and natural language processing, which are two fairly significant AI workloads," said David Kanter, a founder of MLCommons, the group that publishes the results.
"It's pretty impressive."
The promising performance rankings come after years of financing and development from Chinese startups and venture firms, including several investors from the U.S., to create domestic alternatives to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc chips.
The rise of AI chip startups in China could upset plans by the U.S. to slow down China's development of computing tools needed for military applications such as designing nuclear weapons.
Those tasks often involve running computer simulations with high-precision - something the Nvidia and AMD chips excel at.
Biren, founded by alumni of Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Nvidia, has publicly said it would focus on selling its BR100 chip to private data center and cloud customers.
The company says it has no plans to sell to the military.
Jack Dongarra, a distinguished professor of computer science who helps lead the Top500 ranking of the fastest supercomputers says he's seen this scenario play out before.
"The U.S. embargoed Intel chips from going to specific places in China that are and were developing high performance computers," he said.
"The result was that China designed its chips for its supercomputers."
CCS Insight chip analyst Wayne Lam said Biren could be in for a "success story, having demonstrated this capability and now having this business opportunity fall on them".
He said Chinese computing groups will likely "have to re-tinker their systems and figure out how to build for something that they can get."
Still, some analysts and U.S. chip executives say to gain AI market share companies need more than just a fast chip.
They need to build a software ecosystem for the chips that can compete with Nvidia's software platform called CUDA which dominates the AI market.
"New Chinese firms in the space will have to prove that they are reliable, can iterate hardware at the cutting edge..."
"And then offer a compelling software ecosystem," said Paul Triolo, senior vice president for China at strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group.
Also active in developing Nvidia alternatives are Chinese firms like Cambricon, Alibaba Group's PingTouGe, Iluvatar CoreX, Denglin Technology, Moore Threads, Vastai Technologies and MetaX.
Data firm PitchBook shows that those top startups alone have raised $2.5 billion in recent years, including from Shanghai government-backed fund Shanghai Guosheng Group and Hillhouse Capital, which counts several U.S. pension funds and Yale University as limited partners.
Other investors include the Chinese entities of big-name Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Sequoia China and Lightspeed China Partners.
Those investments have caused concern for some who are pushing to limit where U.S. capital can be invested overseas, said Matt Ocko, managing partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm DCVC.
His firm is a major investor in companies that work closely with the U.S. defense and intelligence communities.
"It's not acceptable for major pools of U.S. capital to fund AI chips and other PRC (Chinese) military tech that threatens U.S. national security."
Reporting By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis; Editing by Kenneth Li and Christopher Cushing
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-b ... 022-09-08/
Re: CHINA
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 AT 5:11 PM
Paul Plante says:
ultranationalism: extreme devotion to or advocacy of the interests of a nation, especially regardless of the effect on any other nations.
*******************************************************************************
Can the isolationist policies of an ultra-nationalist fool destroy the economy of the nation the ultra-nationalist fool is the supposed leader of?
Can the blindness of the ultra-nationalist fool to the repercussions of the fool’s ultra-nationalist policies redound (come back upon; rebound on; as in “his sins redounded upon the heads of his people”) upon those who have him as their leader?
Are we about to find out that answer in spades?
Can Joe Biden single-handedly bring down America with his stupid ultra-nationalism?
Can Joe Biden take on the rest of the world to make them small in his bid to Make America Great Again, by isolating America from the rest of the world to make everything here?
And does the world really need us, or can it make out quite fine on its own without us?
Let’s see what’s brewing in that regard:
Reuters
“Analysis: U.S. ban on Nvidia, AMD chips seen boosting Chinese rivals”
By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis
September 8, 2022
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. ban on exports to China of Nvidia and AMD’s flagship artificial intelligence chips will create new business opportunities for domestic startups jockeying for a piece of China’s fast-growing data center chip market, industry executives and analysts told Reuters.
The ban is part of a longer effort by the U.S. government to crack down on U.S. contributions to Chinese artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, or supercomputing.
Last year, U.S. officials put seven Chinese supercomputing entities on an economic blacklist, and last week they banned Nvidia and AMD’s chips from export to China “to keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands.”
On Thursday, an independent group that measures artificial intelligence speeds published new data that can help back up the claims of little-known Chinese startup Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co that its latest chip has bested the performance of one of the high-end chips banned by the U.S. government.
The milestone is viewed as an opening for Chinese domestic chip companies to service Chinese customers cut off from access to U.S. chips, experts said.
The promising performance rankings come after years of financing and development from Chinese startups and venture firms, including several investors from the U.S., to create domestic alternatives to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc chips.
The rise of AI chip startups in China could upset plans by the U.S. to slow down China’s development of computing tools needed for military applications such as designing nuclear weapons.
Biren, founded by alumni of Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Nvidia, has publicly said it would focus on selling its BR100 chip to private data center and cloud customers.
Jack Dongarra, a distinguished professor of computer science who helps lead the Top500 ranking of the fastest supercomputers says he’s seen this scenario play out before.
“The U.S. embargoed Intel chips from going to specific places in China that are and were developing high performance computers,” he said.
“The result was that China designed its chips for its supercomputers.”
CCS Insight chip analyst Wayne Lam said Biren could be in for a “success story, having demonstrated this capability and now having this business opportunity fall on them”.
Also active in developing Nvidia alternatives are Chinese firms like Cambricon, Alibaba Group’s PingTouGe, Iluvatar CoreX, Denglin Technology, Moore Threads, Vastai Technologies and MetaX.
Data firm PitchBook shows that those top startups alone have raised $2.5 billion in recent years, including from Shanghai government-backed fund Shanghai Guosheng Group and Hillhouse Capital, which counts several U.S. pension funds and Yale University as limited partners.
Other investors include the Chinese entities of big-name Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Sequoia China and Lightspeed China Partners.
end quotes
So goofy old Joe Biden thinks that he is going to crush the Chinese by shutting them out of access to U.S. made products?
Does Joe think that is going to cripple them, somehow?
What a fool!
But, hey, he is the president!
So he gets to say who wins and who loses, and in this case, I don’t see the losers being the Chinese.
So who does that leave left?
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-687343
Paul Plante says:
ultranationalism: extreme devotion to or advocacy of the interests of a nation, especially regardless of the effect on any other nations.
*******************************************************************************
Can the isolationist policies of an ultra-nationalist fool destroy the economy of the nation the ultra-nationalist fool is the supposed leader of?
Can the blindness of the ultra-nationalist fool to the repercussions of the fool’s ultra-nationalist policies redound (come back upon; rebound on; as in “his sins redounded upon the heads of his people”) upon those who have him as their leader?
Are we about to find out that answer in spades?
Can Joe Biden single-handedly bring down America with his stupid ultra-nationalism?
Can Joe Biden take on the rest of the world to make them small in his bid to Make America Great Again, by isolating America from the rest of the world to make everything here?
And does the world really need us, or can it make out quite fine on its own without us?
Let’s see what’s brewing in that regard:
Reuters
“Analysis: U.S. ban on Nvidia, AMD chips seen boosting Chinese rivals”
By Jane Lanhee Lee and Stephen Nellis
September 8, 2022
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. ban on exports to China of Nvidia and AMD’s flagship artificial intelligence chips will create new business opportunities for domestic startups jockeying for a piece of China’s fast-growing data center chip market, industry executives and analysts told Reuters.
The ban is part of a longer effort by the U.S. government to crack down on U.S. contributions to Chinese artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, or supercomputing.
Last year, U.S. officials put seven Chinese supercomputing entities on an economic blacklist, and last week they banned Nvidia and AMD’s chips from export to China “to keep advanced technologies out of the wrong hands.”
On Thursday, an independent group that measures artificial intelligence speeds published new data that can help back up the claims of little-known Chinese startup Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co that its latest chip has bested the performance of one of the high-end chips banned by the U.S. government.
The milestone is viewed as an opening for Chinese domestic chip companies to service Chinese customers cut off from access to U.S. chips, experts said.
The promising performance rankings come after years of financing and development from Chinese startups and venture firms, including several investors from the U.S., to create domestic alternatives to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc chips.
The rise of AI chip startups in China could upset plans by the U.S. to slow down China’s development of computing tools needed for military applications such as designing nuclear weapons.
Biren, founded by alumni of Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Nvidia, has publicly said it would focus on selling its BR100 chip to private data center and cloud customers.
Jack Dongarra, a distinguished professor of computer science who helps lead the Top500 ranking of the fastest supercomputers says he’s seen this scenario play out before.
“The U.S. embargoed Intel chips from going to specific places in China that are and were developing high performance computers,” he said.
“The result was that China designed its chips for its supercomputers.”
CCS Insight chip analyst Wayne Lam said Biren could be in for a “success story, having demonstrated this capability and now having this business opportunity fall on them”.
Also active in developing Nvidia alternatives are Chinese firms like Cambricon, Alibaba Group’s PingTouGe, Iluvatar CoreX, Denglin Technology, Moore Threads, Vastai Technologies and MetaX.
Data firm PitchBook shows that those top startups alone have raised $2.5 billion in recent years, including from Shanghai government-backed fund Shanghai Guosheng Group and Hillhouse Capital, which counts several U.S. pension funds and Yale University as limited partners.
Other investors include the Chinese entities of big-name Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Sequoia China and Lightspeed China Partners.
end quotes
So goofy old Joe Biden thinks that he is going to crush the Chinese by shutting them out of access to U.S. made products?
Does Joe think that is going to cripple them, somehow?
What a fool!
But, hey, he is the president!
So he gets to say who wins and who loses, and in this case, I don’t see the losers being the Chinese.
So who does that leave left?
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-687343
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"Exclusive: Biden to hit China with broader curbs on U.S. chip and tool exports"
By Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper
September 12, 2022
WASHINGTON, Sept 11(Reuters) - The Biden administration plans next month to broaden curbs on U.S shipments to China of semiconductors used for artificial intelligence and chipmaking tools, several people familiar with the matter said.
The Commerce Department intends to publish new regulations based on restrictions communicated in letters earlier this year to three U.S. companies -- KLA Corp, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The plan for new rules has not been previously reported.
The letters, which the companies publicly acknowledged, forbade them from exporting chipmaking equipment to Chinese factories that produce advanced semiconductors with sub-14 nanometer processes unless the sellers obtain Commerce Department licenses.
The rules would also codify restrictions in Commerce Department letters sent to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices last month instructing them to halt shipments of several artificial intelligence computing chips to China unless they obtain licenses.
Some of the sources said the regulations would likely include additional actions against China.
The restrictions could also be changed and the rules published later than expected.
So-called "is informed" letters allow the Commerce Department to bypass lengthy rule-writing processes to put controls in place quickly, but the letters only apply to the companies that receive them.
Turning the letters into rules would broaden their reach and could subject other U.S. companies producing similar technology to the restrictions.
The regulations could potentially apply to companies trying to challenge Nvidia and AMD's dominance in artificial intelligence chips.
Intel Corp and startups like Cerebras Systems are targeting the same advanced computing markets.
Intel said it is closely monitoring the situation, while Cerebras declined to comment.
One source said the rules could also impose license requirements on shipments to China of products that contain the targeted chips.
Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Super Micro Computer make data center servers that contain Nvidia's A100 chip.
Dell and HPE said they were monitoring the situation, while Super Micro Computer did not respond to a request for comment.
A senior Commerce official declined to comment on the upcoming action, but said: "As a general rule, we look to codify any restrictions that are in is-informed letters with a regulatory change."
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department on Friday declined to comment on specific regulations but reiterated that it is "taking a comprehensive approach to implement additional actions...to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," including to keep China from acquiring U.S. technology applicable to military modernization.
KLA, Applied Materials and Nvidia declined to comment while Lam did not respond to requests for comment.
AMD did not comment on the specific policy move but reaffirmed it does not foresee a "material impact" from its new licensing requirement.
'CHOKE POINT'
The planned action comes as the President Joe Biden's administration has sought to thwart China's advances by targeting technologies where the United States still maintains dominance.
"The strategy is to choke off China and they have discovered that chips are a choke point."
"They can't make this stuff, they can't make the manufacturing equipment," said Jim Lewis a technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"That will change."
In an update on China-related measures last week, the Chamber of Commerce, a U.S. business lobbying group, warned members of imminent restrictions on AI chips and chipmaking tools.
"We are now hearing that members should expect a series of rules or perhaps an overarching rule prior to the mid-term election to codify the guidance in recently issued (Commerce Department) 'is-informed' letters to chip equipment and chip design companies," the Chamber said.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The group also said the agency plans to add additional Chinese supercomputing entities to a trade blacklist.
Reuters was first to report in July that the Biden administration was actively discussing banning exports of chipmaking tools to Chinese factories that make advanced semiconductors at the 14 nanometer node and smaller.
U.S. officials have reached out to allies to lobby them to enact similar policies so that foreign companies would not be able to sell technology to China that American firms would be barred from shipping, two of the sources said.
“Coordination with allies is key to maximizing effectiveness and minimizing unintended consequences," Clete Willems, a former Trump administration trade official said.
"This should favor broader regulations that others can replicate instead of one-off 'is informed' letters."
Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; Additional Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Jane Lanhee Lee; Editing by Chris Sanders and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/business/exclus ... 022-09-11/
"Exclusive: Biden to hit China with broader curbs on U.S. chip and tool exports"
By Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper
September 12, 2022
WASHINGTON, Sept 11(Reuters) - The Biden administration plans next month to broaden curbs on U.S shipments to China of semiconductors used for artificial intelligence and chipmaking tools, several people familiar with the matter said.
The Commerce Department intends to publish new regulations based on restrictions communicated in letters earlier this year to three U.S. companies -- KLA Corp, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The plan for new rules has not been previously reported.
The letters, which the companies publicly acknowledged, forbade them from exporting chipmaking equipment to Chinese factories that produce advanced semiconductors with sub-14 nanometer processes unless the sellers obtain Commerce Department licenses.
The rules would also codify restrictions in Commerce Department letters sent to Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices last month instructing them to halt shipments of several artificial intelligence computing chips to China unless they obtain licenses.
Some of the sources said the regulations would likely include additional actions against China.
The restrictions could also be changed and the rules published later than expected.
So-called "is informed" letters allow the Commerce Department to bypass lengthy rule-writing processes to put controls in place quickly, but the letters only apply to the companies that receive them.
Turning the letters into rules would broaden their reach and could subject other U.S. companies producing similar technology to the restrictions.
The regulations could potentially apply to companies trying to challenge Nvidia and AMD's dominance in artificial intelligence chips.
Intel Corp and startups like Cerebras Systems are targeting the same advanced computing markets.
Intel said it is closely monitoring the situation, while Cerebras declined to comment.
One source said the rules could also impose license requirements on shipments to China of products that contain the targeted chips.
Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Super Micro Computer make data center servers that contain Nvidia's A100 chip.
Dell and HPE said they were monitoring the situation, while Super Micro Computer did not respond to a request for comment.
A senior Commerce official declined to comment on the upcoming action, but said: "As a general rule, we look to codify any restrictions that are in is-informed letters with a regulatory change."
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department on Friday declined to comment on specific regulations but reiterated that it is "taking a comprehensive approach to implement additional actions...to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," including to keep China from acquiring U.S. technology applicable to military modernization.
KLA, Applied Materials and Nvidia declined to comment while Lam did not respond to requests for comment.
AMD did not comment on the specific policy move but reaffirmed it does not foresee a "material impact" from its new licensing requirement.
'CHOKE POINT'
The planned action comes as the President Joe Biden's administration has sought to thwart China's advances by targeting technologies where the United States still maintains dominance.
"The strategy is to choke off China and they have discovered that chips are a choke point."
"They can't make this stuff, they can't make the manufacturing equipment," said Jim Lewis a technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"That will change."
In an update on China-related measures last week, the Chamber of Commerce, a U.S. business lobbying group, warned members of imminent restrictions on AI chips and chipmaking tools.
"We are now hearing that members should expect a series of rules or perhaps an overarching rule prior to the mid-term election to codify the guidance in recently issued (Commerce Department) 'is-informed' letters to chip equipment and chip design companies," the Chamber said.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The group also said the agency plans to add additional Chinese supercomputing entities to a trade blacklist.
Reuters was first to report in July that the Biden administration was actively discussing banning exports of chipmaking tools to Chinese factories that make advanced semiconductors at the 14 nanometer node and smaller.
U.S. officials have reached out to allies to lobby them to enact similar policies so that foreign companies would not be able to sell technology to China that American firms would be barred from shipping, two of the sources said.
“Coordination with allies is key to maximizing effectiveness and minimizing unintended consequences," Clete Willems, a former Trump administration trade official said.
"This should favor broader regulations that others can replicate instead of one-off 'is informed' letters."
Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; Additional Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Jane Lanhee Lee; Editing by Chris Sanders and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/business/exclus ... 022-09-11/
Re: CHINA
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 AT 5:59 PM
Paul Plante says:
And as the ultra-nationalist autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. out of an extreme sense of paranoia that China is going to win the race for the 21st Century, which race does not exist anywhere outside of Joe’s scrambled mind, continues closing off outside markets to American chip manufacturers whose business models were built around growing foreign markets, is he going to use OUR tax dollars to compensate them for lost business?
Or is he going to find them new markets to replace China, maybe Uganda, for example, or Somalia?
In the meantime, since we are on the subject of Joe’s extreme paranoia about China winning the race for the 21st Century, when it is really Joe’s turn for it, we have from Reuters, as follows:
“U.S. investments in foreign chip firms a potential concern, White House says”
By Alexandra Alper
September 14, 2022
WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – U.S. investment in foreign chip companies is a potential concern for the Biden administration, a White House official said on Wednesday, but he stressed it has not yet made a final decision on a potential mechanism regulating U.S. investments in China.
National Security Council official Peter Harrell heralded the administration’s efforts to kick-start U.S. chipmaking with $52 billion in subsidies through a recent law and its export control policies, which have sought to curb shipments of specialized chips and chipmaking tools to China.
Sources familiar with the matter say the White House has been working on an executive order that would allow the U.S. government to review and block certain American investments in high-tech sectors abroad, especially in China, which could harm U.S. national security.
end quotes
Given OUR history, this is so ridiculous, but oh so very Joe Biden, and here I am referring back in time to March 9, 2000 and the Full Text of Bill Clinton’s Speech on China Trade Bill on March 8 at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, as recorded by the Federal News Service, a transcription company, which policies the ultra-nationalist autocrat Biden and his team of mouth-breathers and bottom feeders and lickspittles and sycophants are overturning out of Joe’s abject fear of losing the race for the 21st Century, to wit:
PRESIDENT CLINTON: I also want to say, President Brody and Dean Wolfowitz, how much I appreciate the involvement of Johns Hopkins and the School for Advanced International Studies in China, in particular, at this moment in history, and for giving me the chance to come here and talk about what is one of the most important decisions America has made in years.
Last fall, as all of you know, the United States signed the agreement to bring China into the W.T.O. on terms that will open its market to American products and investments.
Again, I want to emphasize what has already been said.
Congress will not be voting on whether China will join the W.T.O.
Congress can only decide whether the United States will share in the economic benefits of China joining the W.T.O.
A vote against P.N.T.R. will cost America jobs as our competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere capture Chinese markets that we otherwise would have served.
end quotes
And pay strict attention to that last sentence about “as our competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere capture Chinese markets that we otherwise would have served,” because that is as true today as it was back then, even if these morons that comprise the Biden Regime are unaware of it, due to arrogance which blinds them to reality.
Getting back to Bill Clinton in 2000, he continues as follows, and note that unlike the paranoid Biden, Bill Clinton did not fear China would win the race for the 21st Century, precisely because Bill knew the destructive nature of such a race, and wished to avoid it where the ultranationalist autocrat Biden actively seeks conflict and new enemies to add to his long list of enemies of America, to wit:
Supporting China’s entry into the W.T.O., however, is about more than our economic interests; it is clearly in our larger national interest.
end quotes
So before it was against our national interests, it was in our national interests, which again takes us back to Bill, to wit:
It represents the most significant opportunity that we have had to create positive change in China since the 1970’s, when President Nixon first went there, and later in the decade when President Carter normalized relations.
I am working as hard as I can to convince Congress and the American people to seize this opportunity.
For a long time now, the United States has debated its relationship with China.
Through all the changes, particularly of the last century, and like all human beings everywhere, we see this relationship through the prism of our own experience.
In the early 1900’s, most Americans saw China either through the eyes of traders seeking new markets, or missionaries seeking new converts.
During World War II, China was our ally; during the Korean War, our adversary.
At the dawn of the Cold War, when I was a young boy beginning to study such things, it was a cudgel in a political battle: “Who lost China?”
Later it was a counterweight to the Soviet Union, and now, in some people’s eyes, it’s a caricature.
Will it be the next great capitalist tiger, with the biggest market in the world, or the world’s last great communist dragon and a threat to stability in Asia?
Through all the changes in China and the changes in our perceptions of China, there has been one constant.
We understand that America has a profound stake in what happens in China and how China relates to the rest of the world.
That’s why, for 30 years, every president, without regard to party, has worked for a China that contributes to the stability of Asia, that is open to the world, that upholds the rule of law at home and abroad.
Of course, the path that China takes to the future is a choice China will make.
We cannot control that choice; we can only influence it.
But we must recognize that we do have complete control over what we do.
We can work to pull China in the right direction, or we can turn our backs and almost certainly push it in the wrong direction.
end quotes
And there is exactly what this idiot Biden is doing, which once again takes us back to the rational counterpoint of Bill Clinton, to wit:
The W.T.O. agreement will move China in the right direction.
It will advance the goals America has worked for in China for the past three decades.
And of course, it will advance our own economic interests.
Economically, this agreement is the equivalent of a one-way street.
It requires China to open its markets — with a fifth of the world’s population, potentially the biggest markets in the world — to both our products and services in unprecedented new ways.
All we do is to agree to maintain the present access which China enjoys.
Chinese tariffs, from telecommunications products to automobiles to agriculture, will fall by half or more over just five years.
For the first time, our companies will be able to sell and distribute products in China made by workers here in America without being forced to relocate manufacturing to China, sell through the Chinese government, or transfer valuable technology — for the first time.
We’ll be able to export products without exporting jobs.
Meanwhile, we’ll get valuable new safeguards against any surges of imports from China.
We’re already preparing for the largest enforcement effort ever given for a trade agreement.
If Congress passes P.N.T.R., we reap these rewards.
If Congress rejects it, our competitors reap these rewards.
Again, we must understand the consequences of saying no.
If we don’t sell our products to China, someone else will step into the breach, and we’ll spend the next 20 years wondering why in the wide world we handed over the benefits we negotiated to other people.
end quotes
And wow, people, talk about Bill Clinton looking into the future and seeing an idiot like Joe Biden coming along to undo all that effort and thereby hand over the benefits negotiated by people like Bill Clinton to other people in other countries because of Joe Biden’s ultra-nationalistic policies.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-690873
Paul Plante says:
And as the ultra-nationalist autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. out of an extreme sense of paranoia that China is going to win the race for the 21st Century, which race does not exist anywhere outside of Joe’s scrambled mind, continues closing off outside markets to American chip manufacturers whose business models were built around growing foreign markets, is he going to use OUR tax dollars to compensate them for lost business?
Or is he going to find them new markets to replace China, maybe Uganda, for example, or Somalia?
In the meantime, since we are on the subject of Joe’s extreme paranoia about China winning the race for the 21st Century, when it is really Joe’s turn for it, we have from Reuters, as follows:
“U.S. investments in foreign chip firms a potential concern, White House says”
By Alexandra Alper
September 14, 2022
WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – U.S. investment in foreign chip companies is a potential concern for the Biden administration, a White House official said on Wednesday, but he stressed it has not yet made a final decision on a potential mechanism regulating U.S. investments in China.
National Security Council official Peter Harrell heralded the administration’s efforts to kick-start U.S. chipmaking with $52 billion in subsidies through a recent law and its export control policies, which have sought to curb shipments of specialized chips and chipmaking tools to China.
Sources familiar with the matter say the White House has been working on an executive order that would allow the U.S. government to review and block certain American investments in high-tech sectors abroad, especially in China, which could harm U.S. national security.
end quotes
Given OUR history, this is so ridiculous, but oh so very Joe Biden, and here I am referring back in time to March 9, 2000 and the Full Text of Bill Clinton’s Speech on China Trade Bill on March 8 at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, as recorded by the Federal News Service, a transcription company, which policies the ultra-nationalist autocrat Biden and his team of mouth-breathers and bottom feeders and lickspittles and sycophants are overturning out of Joe’s abject fear of losing the race for the 21st Century, to wit:
PRESIDENT CLINTON: I also want to say, President Brody and Dean Wolfowitz, how much I appreciate the involvement of Johns Hopkins and the School for Advanced International Studies in China, in particular, at this moment in history, and for giving me the chance to come here and talk about what is one of the most important decisions America has made in years.
Last fall, as all of you know, the United States signed the agreement to bring China into the W.T.O. on terms that will open its market to American products and investments.
Again, I want to emphasize what has already been said.
Congress will not be voting on whether China will join the W.T.O.
Congress can only decide whether the United States will share in the economic benefits of China joining the W.T.O.
A vote against P.N.T.R. will cost America jobs as our competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere capture Chinese markets that we otherwise would have served.
end quotes
And pay strict attention to that last sentence about “as our competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere capture Chinese markets that we otherwise would have served,” because that is as true today as it was back then, even if these morons that comprise the Biden Regime are unaware of it, due to arrogance which blinds them to reality.
Getting back to Bill Clinton in 2000, he continues as follows, and note that unlike the paranoid Biden, Bill Clinton did not fear China would win the race for the 21st Century, precisely because Bill knew the destructive nature of such a race, and wished to avoid it where the ultranationalist autocrat Biden actively seeks conflict and new enemies to add to his long list of enemies of America, to wit:
Supporting China’s entry into the W.T.O., however, is about more than our economic interests; it is clearly in our larger national interest.
end quotes
So before it was against our national interests, it was in our national interests, which again takes us back to Bill, to wit:
It represents the most significant opportunity that we have had to create positive change in China since the 1970’s, when President Nixon first went there, and later in the decade when President Carter normalized relations.
I am working as hard as I can to convince Congress and the American people to seize this opportunity.
For a long time now, the United States has debated its relationship with China.
Through all the changes, particularly of the last century, and like all human beings everywhere, we see this relationship through the prism of our own experience.
In the early 1900’s, most Americans saw China either through the eyes of traders seeking new markets, or missionaries seeking new converts.
During World War II, China was our ally; during the Korean War, our adversary.
At the dawn of the Cold War, when I was a young boy beginning to study such things, it was a cudgel in a political battle: “Who lost China?”
Later it was a counterweight to the Soviet Union, and now, in some people’s eyes, it’s a caricature.
Will it be the next great capitalist tiger, with the biggest market in the world, or the world’s last great communist dragon and a threat to stability in Asia?
Through all the changes in China and the changes in our perceptions of China, there has been one constant.
We understand that America has a profound stake in what happens in China and how China relates to the rest of the world.
That’s why, for 30 years, every president, without regard to party, has worked for a China that contributes to the stability of Asia, that is open to the world, that upholds the rule of law at home and abroad.
Of course, the path that China takes to the future is a choice China will make.
We cannot control that choice; we can only influence it.
But we must recognize that we do have complete control over what we do.
We can work to pull China in the right direction, or we can turn our backs and almost certainly push it in the wrong direction.
end quotes
And there is exactly what this idiot Biden is doing, which once again takes us back to the rational counterpoint of Bill Clinton, to wit:
The W.T.O. agreement will move China in the right direction.
It will advance the goals America has worked for in China for the past three decades.
And of course, it will advance our own economic interests.
Economically, this agreement is the equivalent of a one-way street.
It requires China to open its markets — with a fifth of the world’s population, potentially the biggest markets in the world — to both our products and services in unprecedented new ways.
All we do is to agree to maintain the present access which China enjoys.
Chinese tariffs, from telecommunications products to automobiles to agriculture, will fall by half or more over just five years.
For the first time, our companies will be able to sell and distribute products in China made by workers here in America without being forced to relocate manufacturing to China, sell through the Chinese government, or transfer valuable technology — for the first time.
We’ll be able to export products without exporting jobs.
Meanwhile, we’ll get valuable new safeguards against any surges of imports from China.
We’re already preparing for the largest enforcement effort ever given for a trade agreement.
If Congress passes P.N.T.R., we reap these rewards.
If Congress rejects it, our competitors reap these rewards.
Again, we must understand the consequences of saying no.
If we don’t sell our products to China, someone else will step into the breach, and we’ll spend the next 20 years wondering why in the wide world we handed over the benefits we negotiated to other people.
end quotes
And wow, people, talk about Bill Clinton looking into the future and seeing an idiot like Joe Biden coming along to undo all that effort and thereby hand over the benefits negotiated by people like Bill Clinton to other people in other countries because of Joe Biden’s ultra-nationalistic policies.
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-690873
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"UPDATE 1-China raises holdings of Treasuries in July, Japan cuts holdings - Treasury data"
By Reuters Staff
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - China increased its holdings of Treasuries in July for the first time in eight months, while Japan reduced its U.S. government debt load, data from the U.S. Treasury department showed on Friday.
China’s stash of Treasuries rose to $970 billion in July, from $967.8 billion in June, which was the lowest since May 2010 when it had $843.7 billion.
Japan, on the other hand, reduced its Treasury debt holdings to $1.234 trillion in July from $1.236 trillion the previous month.
Japan remains the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries.
The fall in Japan’s holdings was more or less in line with moves in the currency market.
The yen firmed in July against the greenback, ending the month at 131.6 yen per dollar, from 135.22 yen at the beginning.
The yen’s steep fall against a resurgent dollar this year has raised the prospect of Japan intervening in the market to boost the Japanese currency.
Since the beginning of 2022, the yen has fallen 19.5% versus the dollar.
Overall, foreign holdings of Treasuries rose to $7.501 trillion in July, from 7.430 trillion in June.
On a transaction basis, U.S. Treasuries saw net foreign inflows of $23.12 billion in July, down from $58.9 billion the previous month.
U.S. Treasuries have posted foreign inflows for a third straight month.
The inflows generally tracked price action in the Treasuries market.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield started July at 2.904%, and ended the month at 2.642%.
In other asset classes, foreigners sold U.S. equities in July for a seventh straight month amounting to $60.32 billion, from outflows of $25.36 billion in June.
July’s outflow was the largest since March.
U.S. corporate bonds posted inflows in July of $8.78 billion, slightly down from $13.99 billion in June.
Foreigners were net buyers of U.S. corporate bonds for seven straight months.
The Treasury data also showed U.S. residents once again sold their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $27.2 billion, from sales of $50.5 billion in June.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tre ... SL1N30N2YK
"UPDATE 1-China raises holdings of Treasuries in July, Japan cuts holdings - Treasury data"
By Reuters Staff
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - China increased its holdings of Treasuries in July for the first time in eight months, while Japan reduced its U.S. government debt load, data from the U.S. Treasury department showed on Friday.
China’s stash of Treasuries rose to $970 billion in July, from $967.8 billion in June, which was the lowest since May 2010 when it had $843.7 billion.
Japan, on the other hand, reduced its Treasury debt holdings to $1.234 trillion in July from $1.236 trillion the previous month.
Japan remains the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries.
The fall in Japan’s holdings was more or less in line with moves in the currency market.
The yen firmed in July against the greenback, ending the month at 131.6 yen per dollar, from 135.22 yen at the beginning.
The yen’s steep fall against a resurgent dollar this year has raised the prospect of Japan intervening in the market to boost the Japanese currency.
Since the beginning of 2022, the yen has fallen 19.5% versus the dollar.
Overall, foreign holdings of Treasuries rose to $7.501 trillion in July, from 7.430 trillion in June.
On a transaction basis, U.S. Treasuries saw net foreign inflows of $23.12 billion in July, down from $58.9 billion the previous month.
U.S. Treasuries have posted foreign inflows for a third straight month.
The inflows generally tracked price action in the Treasuries market.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield started July at 2.904%, and ended the month at 2.642%.
In other asset classes, foreigners sold U.S. equities in July for a seventh straight month amounting to $60.32 billion, from outflows of $25.36 billion in June.
July’s outflow was the largest since March.
U.S. corporate bonds posted inflows in July of $8.78 billion, slightly down from $13.99 billion in June.
Foreigners were net buyers of U.S. corporate bonds for seven straight months.
The Treasury data also showed U.S. residents once again sold their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $27.2 billion, from sales of $50.5 billion in June.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tre ... SL1N30N2YK
Re: CHINA
BLOOMBERG
"Turkey Seeks to Be First NATO Member to Join China-Led SCO"
Baris Balci and Selcan Hacaoglu
18 SEPTEMBER 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is seeking membership to the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attempts to forge alliances with friendly countries in the East.
Erdogan made the announcement after attending the SCO summit in Uzbekistan on Friday where he held talks with leaders including China’s President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A successful bid would make Turkey the first member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to join the bloc.
“Our relationship with these countries will be moved to a much different position with this step,” Erdogan said about the SCO when he spoke with reporters in the city of Samarkand where the summit was held, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
His remarks on Turkey’s potential bid to join the SCO came as Erdogan sought, but could not yet secure, a one-on-one meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington after this week’s meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, according to people familiar with the matter.
The two may still meet during the UN meeting in NY.
“What Ankara is doing is not pursuing alternatives to the West, but establishing balanced relations with all over the world,” Cagri Erhan, a professor of international relations who is also a member of the Turkish president’s security advisory board, said on Twitter.
“It also aims to help the West to see more clearly who its interlocutor is in its relations” with Turkey, he said.
There was no immediate reaction from the US government or NATO on Turkey’s bid for SCO membership.
Turkey has been affiliated with the SCO since 2013, when it signed a partnership agreement.
Full membership of the bloc would give Erdogan renewed leverage against the West and the prospect of stronger economic ties as the government attempts to stabilize a troubled economy ahead of next year’s election.
Apart from Russia and China, the eight-member SCO also includes India, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tu ... bbb01ff413
"Turkey Seeks to Be First NATO Member to Join China-Led SCO"
Baris Balci and Selcan Hacaoglu
18 SEPTEMBER 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is seeking membership to the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attempts to forge alliances with friendly countries in the East.
Erdogan made the announcement after attending the SCO summit in Uzbekistan on Friday where he held talks with leaders including China’s President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A successful bid would make Turkey the first member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to join the bloc.
“Our relationship with these countries will be moved to a much different position with this step,” Erdogan said about the SCO when he spoke with reporters in the city of Samarkand where the summit was held, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
His remarks on Turkey’s potential bid to join the SCO came as Erdogan sought, but could not yet secure, a one-on-one meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington after this week’s meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, according to people familiar with the matter.
The two may still meet during the UN meeting in NY.
“What Ankara is doing is not pursuing alternatives to the West, but establishing balanced relations with all over the world,” Cagri Erhan, a professor of international relations who is also a member of the Turkish president’s security advisory board, said on Twitter.
“It also aims to help the West to see more clearly who its interlocutor is in its relations” with Turkey, he said.
There was no immediate reaction from the US government or NATO on Turkey’s bid for SCO membership.
Turkey has been affiliated with the SCO since 2013, when it signed a partnership agreement.
Full membership of the bloc would give Erdogan renewed leverage against the West and the prospect of stronger economic ties as the government attempts to stabilize a troubled economy ahead of next year’s election.
Apart from Russia and China, the eight-member SCO also includes India, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/tu ... bbb01ff413
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"U.S. Treasury official criticizes China's 'unconventional' debt practices"
By Andrea Shalal
September 20, 2022
Summary
* China is world's largest official creditor
* Lack of transparency, confidentiality agreements under fire
* Progress urged on Common Framework debt deals for Zambia, others
WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - A top adviser to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Tuesday that China's foot-dragging on debt relief could burden dozens of low- and middle-income countries with years of debt servicing problems, lower growth and underinvestment.
Yellen's counselor Brent Neiman criticized China's "unconventional" debt practices and its failure to move forward with debt relief at an event at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"China’s enormous scale as a lender means its participation is essential," Neiman said in the speech, first reported by Reuters, citing estimates that China has $500 billion to $1 trillion in outstanding official loans, mainly to low and middle-income countries.
Many of those countries are facing debt distress after borrowing heavily to combat COVID-19 and its economic fallout.
Now Russia's war in Ukraine has caused food and energy prices to soar, while rising interest rates in advanced economies have triggered the biggest net capital outflows from emerging markets since the global financial crisis, Neiman said.
He said a systemic debt crisis had not materialized, but economic stresses and domestic vulnerabilities were increasing and could grow worse.
China had a unique responsibility on debt issues since it is the world’s largest bilateral creditor, with claims surpassing those of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and all Paris Club official creditors combined, Neiman said.
Neiman's critique of China's debt practices marks the latest salvo by Western officials and the leaders of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, who have grown weary of delays and broken promises by China and private lenders.
As many as 44 countries each owed debt equivalent to more than 10% of their gross domestic product to Chinese lenders, but Beijing has consistently failed to write down debts when countries needed help, Neiman said.
Instead, China has opted to lengthen maturities or grace periods, and in some cases, such as that of Congo in 2018, even wound up increasing the net value of its loans.
Neiman said China's lack of transparency and its frequent use of nondisclosure agreements complicated coordinated debt restructuring efforts, and meant liabilities to China were "systematically excluded" from multilateral surveillance.
Beijing signed up to the Common Framework for debt treatments agreed by the Group of 20 major economies and the Paris Club in late 2020, but it had delayed formation of creditor committees for Chad and Ethiopia, two of the three countries that had sought help under the framework.
In July, it said it and other official creditors would provide debt treatments for the third, Zambia, but the delays had prolonged uncertainty, and could discourage other countries from requesting help, Neiman said.
He said he hoped that Zambia's creditors could complete a memorandum of understanding by the end of the year.
All three cases should be resolved quickly, he said, adding that some middle-income countries like Sri Lanka also needed urgent debt restructuring.
Neiman warned that IMF financing should not be used by countries to repay select creditors, and called for more transparent reporting and tracking of financing assurances.
He noted that China had engaged in "unconventional" practices that had allowed the IMF to move forward without obtaining standard financing assurances.
He cited China's past actions on Ecuador's debt in 2020 and its refusal to restructure its debt service for Argentina, even though Paris Club creditors were likely to do so.
"In many of these cases, China is not the only creditor holding back quick and effective implementation of the typical (debt restructuring) playbook."
"But across the international lending landscape, China’s lack of participation in coordinated debt relief is the most common and the most consequential."
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa
https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/ex ... 022-09-20/
"U.S. Treasury official criticizes China's 'unconventional' debt practices"
By Andrea Shalal
September 20, 2022
Summary
* China is world's largest official creditor
* Lack of transparency, confidentiality agreements under fire
* Progress urged on Common Framework debt deals for Zambia, others
WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - A top adviser to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Tuesday that China's foot-dragging on debt relief could burden dozens of low- and middle-income countries with years of debt servicing problems, lower growth and underinvestment.
Yellen's counselor Brent Neiman criticized China's "unconventional" debt practices and its failure to move forward with debt relief at an event at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"China’s enormous scale as a lender means its participation is essential," Neiman said in the speech, first reported by Reuters, citing estimates that China has $500 billion to $1 trillion in outstanding official loans, mainly to low and middle-income countries.
Many of those countries are facing debt distress after borrowing heavily to combat COVID-19 and its economic fallout.
Now Russia's war in Ukraine has caused food and energy prices to soar, while rising interest rates in advanced economies have triggered the biggest net capital outflows from emerging markets since the global financial crisis, Neiman said.
He said a systemic debt crisis had not materialized, but economic stresses and domestic vulnerabilities were increasing and could grow worse.
China had a unique responsibility on debt issues since it is the world’s largest bilateral creditor, with claims surpassing those of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and all Paris Club official creditors combined, Neiman said.
Neiman's critique of China's debt practices marks the latest salvo by Western officials and the leaders of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, who have grown weary of delays and broken promises by China and private lenders.
As many as 44 countries each owed debt equivalent to more than 10% of their gross domestic product to Chinese lenders, but Beijing has consistently failed to write down debts when countries needed help, Neiman said.
Instead, China has opted to lengthen maturities or grace periods, and in some cases, such as that of Congo in 2018, even wound up increasing the net value of its loans.
Neiman said China's lack of transparency and its frequent use of nondisclosure agreements complicated coordinated debt restructuring efforts, and meant liabilities to China were "systematically excluded" from multilateral surveillance.
Beijing signed up to the Common Framework for debt treatments agreed by the Group of 20 major economies and the Paris Club in late 2020, but it had delayed formation of creditor committees for Chad and Ethiopia, two of the three countries that had sought help under the framework.
In July, it said it and other official creditors would provide debt treatments for the third, Zambia, but the delays had prolonged uncertainty, and could discourage other countries from requesting help, Neiman said.
He said he hoped that Zambia's creditors could complete a memorandum of understanding by the end of the year.
All three cases should be resolved quickly, he said, adding that some middle-income countries like Sri Lanka also needed urgent debt restructuring.
Neiman warned that IMF financing should not be used by countries to repay select creditors, and called for more transparent reporting and tracking of financing assurances.
He noted that China had engaged in "unconventional" practices that had allowed the IMF to move forward without obtaining standard financing assurances.
He cited China's past actions on Ecuador's debt in 2020 and its refusal to restructure its debt service for Argentina, even though Paris Club creditors were likely to do so.
"In many of these cases, China is not the only creditor holding back quick and effective implementation of the typical (debt restructuring) playbook."
"But across the international lending landscape, China’s lack of participation in coordinated debt relief is the most common and the most consequential."
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa
https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/ex ... 022-09-20/
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"Nvidia CEO sees 'large space' for China sales despite U.S. restrictions"
By Stephen Nellis
September 21, 2022
Sept 21 (Reuters) - Nvidia Corp Chief Executive Jensen Huang said Wednesday that he continues to see a large market for Nvidia's data center chips in China despite U.S. restrictions on exports of two of its top chips to the country.
At a news conference after the company's fall product launch, Huang said that the restrictions disclosed earlier this month have specific thresholds for both the performance of a chip as well as the processor's ability to connect other chips.
He said that the rules leave "a large space for us" in the Chinese market.
"The vast majority of our customers are not affected by the specification," Huang said.
"So our expectation is that for the United States and also for China, we will have a large number of products that are architecturally compatible, that are within the limits and that require no license at all."
Nvidia said Sept 1 that it had been told by the U.S. government to stop exports of its A100 and H100 chips to China, which could affect up to $400 million in sales for the company in its current fiscal quarter.
The two products are Nvidia's fastest chips and used in data centers to speed up artificial intelligence tasks such natural language processing.
At the news conference, Huang said that both chips are part of larger chip lineups with a "large number of products" that can still be sold in China.
Huang also said that Nvidia will seek licenses from the U.S. government for Chinese customers who want its top chips.
"You could surmise that the goal is not to reduce or hamper our business."
"The goal is to know who it is that would need capabilities above this limit and give the United States the opportunity to make a decision about whether that level of technology should be available to others," Huang said.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis, editing by Deepa Babington
https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvid ... 022-09-21/
"Nvidia CEO sees 'large space' for China sales despite U.S. restrictions"
By Stephen Nellis
September 21, 2022
Sept 21 (Reuters) - Nvidia Corp Chief Executive Jensen Huang said Wednesday that he continues to see a large market for Nvidia's data center chips in China despite U.S. restrictions on exports of two of its top chips to the country.
At a news conference after the company's fall product launch, Huang said that the restrictions disclosed earlier this month have specific thresholds for both the performance of a chip as well as the processor's ability to connect other chips.
He said that the rules leave "a large space for us" in the Chinese market.
"The vast majority of our customers are not affected by the specification," Huang said.
"So our expectation is that for the United States and also for China, we will have a large number of products that are architecturally compatible, that are within the limits and that require no license at all."
Nvidia said Sept 1 that it had been told by the U.S. government to stop exports of its A100 and H100 chips to China, which could affect up to $400 million in sales for the company in its current fiscal quarter.
The two products are Nvidia's fastest chips and used in data centers to speed up artificial intelligence tasks such natural language processing.
At the news conference, Huang said that both chips are part of larger chip lineups with a "large number of products" that can still be sold in China.
Huang also said that Nvidia will seek licenses from the U.S. government for Chinese customers who want its top chips.
"You could surmise that the goal is not to reduce or hamper our business."
"The goal is to know who it is that would need capabilities above this limit and give the United States the opportunity to make a decision about whether that level of technology should be available to others," Huang said.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis, editing by Deepa Babington
https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvid ... 022-09-21/
Re: CHINA
CNBC
"The U.S. and its allies are joining forces on chips. That could stop China reaching the next level"
Arjun Kharpal @ARJUNKHARPAL
UPDATED THU, SEP 22 2022
KEY POINTS
* Leading chipmaking nations including the United States, South Korea and Japan are forming alliances, in part to secure their semiconductor supply chain and to stop China from reaching the cutting edge of the industry, analysts told CNBC.
* The alliances underscore the importance of chips to economies and national security while at the same time highlighting a desire by countries to stem China’s advancement in the critical technology.
* Still, there are some cracks beginning to appear between some of the partners, in particular South Korea and the United States.
Leading chipmaking nations including the U.S. are forming alliances, in part to secure their semiconductor supply chain and to stop China from reaching the cutting edge of the industry, analysts told CNBC.
Places including the United States, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, which have strong semiconductor industries, have looked to forge partnerships around the critical technology.
“The immediate reason for all this is definitely China,” said Pranay Kotasthane, chairperson of the High Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution, in reference to the alliances.
The teaming up underscores how important chips are to economies and national security, while at the same time highlighting a desire by countries to stem China’s advancement in the critical technology.
Kotasthane was a guest on the latest episode of CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley” podcast published Tuesday, which looks at the geopolitics behind semiconductors.
Why chips are in the geopolitical spotlight
Semiconductors are critical technology because they go into so many of the products we use — from smartphones to cars and refrigerators.
And they’re also crucial to artificial intelligence applications and even weaponry.
The importance of chips were thrust into the spotlight during an ongoing shortage of these components, which was sparked by the Covid pandemic, amid a surge in demand for consumer electronics and supply chain disruptions.
That alerted governments around the world to the need to secure chip supplies.
The United States, under President Joe Biden, has pushed to reshore manufacturing.
But the semiconductor supply chain is complex — it includes areas ranging from design to packaging to manufacturing and the tools that are required to do that.
For example, ASML, based in the Netherlands, is the only firm in the world capable of making the highly complex machines that are needed to manufacture the most advanced chips.
The United States, while strong in many areas of the market, has lost its dominance in manufacturing.
Over the last 15 years or so, Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung have come to dominate the manufacturing of the world’s most advanced semiconductors.
Intel, the United States’ largest chipmaker, fell far behind.
Taiwan and South Korea make up about 80% of the global foundry market.
Foundries are facilities that manufacture chips that other companies design.
The concentration of critical tools and manufacturing in a small number of companies and geographies has put governments around the world on edge, as well as thrust semiconductors into the realm of geopolitics.
“What has happened is there are many companies spread across the world doing a small part of it, which means there’s a geopolitical angle to it, right?"
"What if one company doesn’t supply the things that you need?"
"What if, you know, one of the countries sort of puts things about espionage through chips?
"So those things make it a geopolitical tool,” Kotasthane said.
The concentration of power in the hands of a few economies and companies presents a business continuity risk, especially in places of contention like Taiwan, Kotasthane said.
Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and has promised a “reunification” of the island with the Chinese mainland.
“The other geopolitical significance is just related to Taiwan’s central role in the semiconductor supply chain."
"And because China-Taiwan tensions have risen, there is a fear that, you know, since a lot of manufacturing happens in Taiwan, what happens if China were to occupy or even just that there are tensions between the two countries?” Kotasthane said.
Alliances being built that exclude China
Because of the complexity of the chip supply chain, no country can go it alone.
Countries have increasingly sought chip partnerships in the past two years.
On a trip to South Korea in May, Biden visited a Samsung semiconductor plant.
Around the same time, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met her then Japanese counterpart, Koichi Hagiuda, in Tokyo and discussed “cooperation in fields such as semiconductors and export control.”
Last month, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, told the visiting U.S. state of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey that she looks forward to producing “democracy chips” with America.
Taiwan is home to the world’s most advanced chipmaker TSMC.
And semiconductors are a key part of cooperation between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, a group of democracies collectively known as the Quad.
The U.S. has also proposed a “Chip 4” alliance with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, all powerhouses in the semiconductor supply chain.
However, details of this have not been finalized.
There are a few reasons behind these partnerships.
One is about bringing together countries, each with their “comparative advantages,” to “string together alliances that can develop secure chips,” Kotasthane said.
“It doesn’t make sense to go it alone” because of the complexity of the supply chain and the strengths of different countries and companies, he added.
The push for such partnerships has one common trait — China is not involved.
In fact, these alliances are designed to cut China off from the global supply chain.
“In my view, I think over the short term, China’s development in this sector will be severely constrained [as a result of these alliances],” Kotasthane said.
China and the U.S. view each other as rivals in technology in areas ranging from semiconductors to artificial intelligence.
As part of that battle, the U.S. has looked to cut off China from critical semiconductors and tools to make them through export restrictions.
“The goal of all this effort is to prevent China from developing the capability to produce advanced semiconductors domestically,” Paul Triolo, the technology policy lead at consulting firm Albright Stonebridge, told CNBC, referring to the aims of the various partnerships.
China ‘cutting-edge’ chips in doubt
So where does that leave China?
Over the past few years, China has pumped a lot of money into its domestic semiconductor industry, aiming to boost self-sufficiency and reduce its reliance on foreign companies.
As explained before, that would be incredibly difficult because of the complexity of the supply chain and the concentration of power in the hands of very few companies and countries.
China is improving in areas such as chip design, but still relies heavily on foreign tools and equipment.
Manufacturing is the “Achilles’ heel” for China, according to Kotasthane.
China’s biggest contract chipmaker is called SMIC.
But the company’s technology is still significantly behind the likes of TSMC and Samsung.
“It requires a lot of international collaboration ... which I think is now a big problem for China because of the way China has sort of antagonized neighbors,” Kotasthane said.
“What China could do, three, four years earlier in terms of international collaboration won’t just be possible.”
That leaves China’s ability to reach the leading edge of chipmaking in doubt, especially as the U.S. and other major semiconductor powerhouses form alliances, Kotasthane said.
“Over the long term, I do think they [China] will be able to overcome some of the current challenges ... yet they won’t be able to reach the cutting edge that many other countries are,” Kotasthane said.
Tensions in the alliances
Still, there are some cracks beginning to appear between some of the partners, in particular South Korea and the United States.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ahn Duk-geun, South Korea’s trade minister, said there were disagreements between Seoul and Washington over the latter’s continued export restrictions on semiconductor tools to China.
“Our semiconductor industry has a lot of concerns about what the US government is doing these days,” Ahn told the FT.
China, the world’s largest importer of chips, is a key market for chip companies globally, from U.S. giants like Qualcomm to Samsung in South Korea.
With politics and business mixing, the stage could be set for more tension between nations in these high-tech alliances.
“Not all U.S. allies are eager to sign up for these alliances, or expand controls on technology bound for China, as they have major equities in both manufacturing in China and selling into the China market."
"Most do not want to run afoul of Beijing over these issues,” Triolo said.
“A major risk is that attempts to coordinate parts of the global semiconductor supply chain development undermine the market-driven nature of the industry and cause major collateral damage to innovation, driving up costs and slowing the pace of development of new technologies.”
Data also provided by Reuters
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/22/semicon ... china.html
"The U.S. and its allies are joining forces on chips. That could stop China reaching the next level"
Arjun Kharpal @ARJUNKHARPAL
UPDATED THU, SEP 22 2022
KEY POINTS
* Leading chipmaking nations including the United States, South Korea and Japan are forming alliances, in part to secure their semiconductor supply chain and to stop China from reaching the cutting edge of the industry, analysts told CNBC.
* The alliances underscore the importance of chips to economies and national security while at the same time highlighting a desire by countries to stem China’s advancement in the critical technology.
* Still, there are some cracks beginning to appear between some of the partners, in particular South Korea and the United States.
Leading chipmaking nations including the U.S. are forming alliances, in part to secure their semiconductor supply chain and to stop China from reaching the cutting edge of the industry, analysts told CNBC.
Places including the United States, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, which have strong semiconductor industries, have looked to forge partnerships around the critical technology.
“The immediate reason for all this is definitely China,” said Pranay Kotasthane, chairperson of the High Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution, in reference to the alliances.
The teaming up underscores how important chips are to economies and national security, while at the same time highlighting a desire by countries to stem China’s advancement in the critical technology.
Kotasthane was a guest on the latest episode of CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley” podcast published Tuesday, which looks at the geopolitics behind semiconductors.
Why chips are in the geopolitical spotlight
Semiconductors are critical technology because they go into so many of the products we use — from smartphones to cars and refrigerators.
And they’re also crucial to artificial intelligence applications and even weaponry.
The importance of chips were thrust into the spotlight during an ongoing shortage of these components, which was sparked by the Covid pandemic, amid a surge in demand for consumer electronics and supply chain disruptions.
That alerted governments around the world to the need to secure chip supplies.
The United States, under President Joe Biden, has pushed to reshore manufacturing.
But the semiconductor supply chain is complex — it includes areas ranging from design to packaging to manufacturing and the tools that are required to do that.
For example, ASML, based in the Netherlands, is the only firm in the world capable of making the highly complex machines that are needed to manufacture the most advanced chips.
The United States, while strong in many areas of the market, has lost its dominance in manufacturing.
Over the last 15 years or so, Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung have come to dominate the manufacturing of the world’s most advanced semiconductors.
Intel, the United States’ largest chipmaker, fell far behind.
Taiwan and South Korea make up about 80% of the global foundry market.
Foundries are facilities that manufacture chips that other companies design.
The concentration of critical tools and manufacturing in a small number of companies and geographies has put governments around the world on edge, as well as thrust semiconductors into the realm of geopolitics.
“What has happened is there are many companies spread across the world doing a small part of it, which means there’s a geopolitical angle to it, right?"
"What if one company doesn’t supply the things that you need?"
"What if, you know, one of the countries sort of puts things about espionage through chips?
"So those things make it a geopolitical tool,” Kotasthane said.
The concentration of power in the hands of a few economies and companies presents a business continuity risk, especially in places of contention like Taiwan, Kotasthane said.
Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province and has promised a “reunification” of the island with the Chinese mainland.
“The other geopolitical significance is just related to Taiwan’s central role in the semiconductor supply chain."
"And because China-Taiwan tensions have risen, there is a fear that, you know, since a lot of manufacturing happens in Taiwan, what happens if China were to occupy or even just that there are tensions between the two countries?” Kotasthane said.
Alliances being built that exclude China
Because of the complexity of the chip supply chain, no country can go it alone.
Countries have increasingly sought chip partnerships in the past two years.
On a trip to South Korea in May, Biden visited a Samsung semiconductor plant.
Around the same time, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met her then Japanese counterpart, Koichi Hagiuda, in Tokyo and discussed “cooperation in fields such as semiconductors and export control.”
Last month, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, told the visiting U.S. state of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey that she looks forward to producing “democracy chips” with America.
Taiwan is home to the world’s most advanced chipmaker TSMC.
And semiconductors are a key part of cooperation between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, a group of democracies collectively known as the Quad.
The U.S. has also proposed a “Chip 4” alliance with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, all powerhouses in the semiconductor supply chain.
However, details of this have not been finalized.
There are a few reasons behind these partnerships.
One is about bringing together countries, each with their “comparative advantages,” to “string together alliances that can develop secure chips,” Kotasthane said.
“It doesn’t make sense to go it alone” because of the complexity of the supply chain and the strengths of different countries and companies, he added.
The push for such partnerships has one common trait — China is not involved.
In fact, these alliances are designed to cut China off from the global supply chain.
“In my view, I think over the short term, China’s development in this sector will be severely constrained [as a result of these alliances],” Kotasthane said.
China and the U.S. view each other as rivals in technology in areas ranging from semiconductors to artificial intelligence.
As part of that battle, the U.S. has looked to cut off China from critical semiconductors and tools to make them through export restrictions.
“The goal of all this effort is to prevent China from developing the capability to produce advanced semiconductors domestically,” Paul Triolo, the technology policy lead at consulting firm Albright Stonebridge, told CNBC, referring to the aims of the various partnerships.
China ‘cutting-edge’ chips in doubt
So where does that leave China?
Over the past few years, China has pumped a lot of money into its domestic semiconductor industry, aiming to boost self-sufficiency and reduce its reliance on foreign companies.
As explained before, that would be incredibly difficult because of the complexity of the supply chain and the concentration of power in the hands of very few companies and countries.
China is improving in areas such as chip design, but still relies heavily on foreign tools and equipment.
Manufacturing is the “Achilles’ heel” for China, according to Kotasthane.
China’s biggest contract chipmaker is called SMIC.
But the company’s technology is still significantly behind the likes of TSMC and Samsung.
“It requires a lot of international collaboration ... which I think is now a big problem for China because of the way China has sort of antagonized neighbors,” Kotasthane said.
“What China could do, three, four years earlier in terms of international collaboration won’t just be possible.”
That leaves China’s ability to reach the leading edge of chipmaking in doubt, especially as the U.S. and other major semiconductor powerhouses form alliances, Kotasthane said.
“Over the long term, I do think they [China] will be able to overcome some of the current challenges ... yet they won’t be able to reach the cutting edge that many other countries are,” Kotasthane said.
Tensions in the alliances
Still, there are some cracks beginning to appear between some of the partners, in particular South Korea and the United States.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ahn Duk-geun, South Korea’s trade minister, said there were disagreements between Seoul and Washington over the latter’s continued export restrictions on semiconductor tools to China.
“Our semiconductor industry has a lot of concerns about what the US government is doing these days,” Ahn told the FT.
China, the world’s largest importer of chips, is a key market for chip companies globally, from U.S. giants like Qualcomm to Samsung in South Korea.
With politics and business mixing, the stage could be set for more tension between nations in these high-tech alliances.
“Not all U.S. allies are eager to sign up for these alliances, or expand controls on technology bound for China, as they have major equities in both manufacturing in China and selling into the China market."
"Most do not want to run afoul of Beijing over these issues,” Triolo said.
“A major risk is that attempts to coordinate parts of the global semiconductor supply chain development undermine the market-driven nature of the industry and cause major collateral damage to innovation, driving up costs and slowing the pace of development of new technologies.”
Data also provided by Reuters
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/22/semicon ... china.html