Biden administration's insane ramping-up of tech offensive risks getting out of hand: China Daily editorial

The recent bickering between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council is not unexpected. TSMC claims that a lack of skilled workers has delayed the construction and installation of tools at its facility under construction near Phoenix, Arizona, dubbed Fab21. The leader of the council denied the claim and said that TSMC was using the delay as an excuse to bring in foreign workers whom they can pay less.

Mass production at the plant is now scheduled for sometime in 2025, rather than next year as originally planned.

TSMC's sales were expected to drop 10 percent in 2023, and it reported a fall in second-quarter net profit, which is its first year-on-year drop in quarterly profit since 2019.

All these are because the project is not a natural business development. It has been forced on the company by Washington. TSMC's outlook has dimmed under the political pressure of the United States.

To contain the rise of China, Washington has politicized global economic development, and the measures it has adopted to prohibit China from having normal cooperative relations with sci-tech companies in the US and even in other developed countries have seriously disrupted global industry and supply chains, making it very hard for its own sci-tech companies to survive.

No wonder Advanced Micro Devices Inc has announced plans to develop an artificial intelligence chip specifically for the Chinese market in order to comply with US export restrictions. Nvidia and Intel have already created modified versions of their AI chips for the Chinese market.

That these sci-tech companies are trying their best to enter the Chinese market by circumventing US export restrictions speaks volumes about how important the Chinese market is. It also suggests how detrimental the barriers that the US has established to block cooperation between sci-tech companies of the two countries are to the interest of its own companies and the development of its own economy.

Beijing has already warned of retaliation should the US impose new limits on technology or capital flows after reports emerged that US President Joe Biden is poised to sign an executive order later this month aimed at curbing US investments in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing in China.

Even some China-bashers in the US have realized how dangerous such measures are. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said recently that he was worried that miscalculations between China and the US risk escalating to war, and wanted to counter "irresponsible saber rattling". He told reporters at Bloomberg News on Tuesday that he wants to travel to China to foster understanding between the two countries. The Semiconductor Industry Association has also urged the government not to impose more restrictions.

It should be obvious to every sober-minded politician that worsening of bilateral ties between China and the US bodes ill for the future of the two countries and the rest of the world.