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US will lose China tech war if 5G, AI, microchip ‘core’ fronts are not fortified, report warns
- Years between 2025 and 2030 to be critical, and the US must take action on three fronts or lose, first Special Competitive Studies Project report says
- ‘We only have one budget cycle to get this right,’ SCSP chief Ylli Bajraktari tells Defence Writers Group event
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The US could lose the new technology competition to China if it does not take dramatic action on three core fronts soon, a new report has warned.
The years between 2025 and 2030 would be a critical time window for the new tech arms race, in which Beijing might win the edge if its plans work out, according to the report by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
“We only have one budget cycle to get this right,” SCSP chief Ylli Bajraktari told a Defence Writers Group event earlier.
“If we don’t get our act together in these three core battlegrounds … in terms of bio, in terms of next-generation computer power, in terms of next-generation inventions, it’s not going to happen in the countries that are at the forefront of democracies today. Everything will happen in China.”
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AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China
AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China
The group’s first report, titled “Mid-Decade Challenges to National Competitiveness” and released on Monday, identified three “core battlegrounds” for technological superiority – microelectronics, fifth-generation wireless technology (5G) and artificial intelligence (AI).
China had put great efforts into these areas, it warned, saying the US and its allies were “perilously and unwittingly close to ceding the strategic technology landscape and along with it the capacity to shape the future”.
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