TheUSgovernmentnowrequireslicensesforAmericanfirmstoexportchipswithadvancedprocessingcapabilities, particularlythosecrucialforAIandmachinelearningtasks, whichcouldgiveChina a militaryorintelligenceadvantage.
Chinais a majorconsumermarketforUStechnologyfirms, especiallyforcompaniesthatproducehigh-endsemiconductors.
RestrictingaccesstothismarketcouldleadtorevenuelossesforAmericancompanieslikeNvidia, QualcommandIntel, allofwhichcountChinaas a significantpartoftheirsales.
Forinstance, Nvidia's advancedAIchips, suchasthe A100 and H100, areinhighdemandacrossChinaforapplicationsinAIdevelopment, dataprocessingandmachinelearning.
Losingthismarketcouldhamperthesecompanies' abilitytoreinvestinresearchanddevelopment, affectingtheircompetitivenesson a globalscale.
Thisincludes a laser-producedplasmaEUVsource, whichinvolvesusing a CO2 lasertotargettinytindropletsin a specialisedchamber, creating a high-energyplasma.
ThisplasmaemitsEUVlightat 13.5nm, whichiscollectedandreflectedusing a mirrorcoatedwithmolybdenumandsiliconlayers, keyelementsofanEUVlithographytool.
AsRISC-V gainstractioninChina, itcouldleadto a parallelecosystemofAIchipsthatcompeteswithAmericandesigns, allowingChinesefirmstoinnovatemorefreelyandcaterto a growingdemandfornon-US-controlledtechnology.
Oneexampleistheshifttowardsiliconphotonics, a promisingtechnologyaimedatimprovingdatatransmissionspeedswithoutrelyingonconventionalsemiconductorprocesses.
Ifsuccessful, siliconphotonicscouldenableChinatoleapfrogtraditionalsemiconductormanufacturingmethods, providing a uniquecompetitiveadvantageinemergingtechnologies.