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US-China tech war
China

Amid China tech advances, US national security is ‘foremost’: top Biden official

  • American vulnerability to Chinese overcapacity also a concern being tackled, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo tells key House Appropriations committee
  • Testimony follows recent US decision to prohibit tech titans Qualcomm and Intel from supplying less advanced chips to China’s Huawei

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Gina Raimondo, the US commerce secretary, has identified artificial intelligence, or AI, as a focal point of American government efforts to guard national security. Photo: AFP
Khushboo Razdanin Washington
A top American government official on Wednesday made clear that national security supersedes commercial interests as US President Joe Biden’s administration tackles what it perceives to be the threat of China’s advancing technological capabilities.
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Speaking before the House Appropriations committee, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also highlighted ongoing efforts to identify areas where the US was most vulnerable to Chinese overcapacity.

“I tell semiconductor companies that they can’t sell their chips to China. It denies them revenue. But first and foremost it’s national security,” Raimondo told the panel.
Her testimony followed an apparent decision by her department to prohibit American tech titans Qualcomm and Intel from supplying their less advanced chips used in laptops and handsets to Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecoms company.
In a filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Intel said the Commerce Department had revoked “certain licenses for exports of consumer-related items to a customer in China” – without naming Huawei.
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