U.S. sanctions on Huawei are difficult to stop the rise of China's chips The Sino-US technology war has entered a new stage
Recently, a piece of interesting news has once again raised people's attention to the technology game between China and the United States: the US government announced that it will no longer provide licenses to semiconductor giants such as Intel and Qualcomm to sell some chips to Huawei. This undoubtedly marks a further escalation of the U.S. technology blockade of Huawei.
Surprisingly, however, this move did not cause as much uproar in China's stock market and public opinion arena as it had before. On the contrary, the news only ranked second on the tech list, and the Chinese stock market was not significantly affected.
What does this calm reaction really mean? What exactly is the reason behind it? With the continuous escalation of the U.S. technology sanction policy, will China's chip industry break through as scheduled and finally achieve independent innovation and technological independence?
One thing worth noting is that this may mark a new stage in the Sino-US technology war. At this stage, China's chip industry is seeking to fundamentally get rid of its dependence on key technologies from the United States through independent research and development and systematic layout, so as to finally take the initiative in this protracted war.
U.S. sanctions are difficult to shake the rise of China's chips Chinese companies are getting rid of their dependence on the United States
To understand this change, it is first necessary to review the historical trajectory of the U.S. technology sanctions against Chinese companies such as Huawei.
Since 2018, the U.S. government has imposed a series of comprehensive restrictions on Chinese high-tech companies against the backdrop of the Sino-US trade war. One of the most typical is to prohibit American companies from supplying Huawei with the most cutting-edge 5G communication chips and other key technologies.
Although the U.S. government still allows some U.S. companies to provide chips to Huawei on a limited basis in some low-sensitivity areas, this "workaround" measure has now been scrapped. The announcement by the United States of canceling Qualcomm and Intel's licenses to export chips to Huawei undoubtedly marks a further escalation of its technological blockade of Huawei.
However, the sanctions did not provoke the same uproar as before. Industry insiders point out that there are several important reasons behind this:
First, Chinese companies and people have become "accustomed" to US sanctions. Looking back over the past few years, every time the United States introduced new restrictions, it undoubtedly caused a violent response in the Chinese market. But with the passage of time, everyone has gradually adapted and walked out of this "thunderbolt from the blue" shock.
Second, the actual impact of the sanctions has not been as expected. The United States is targeting Huawei's laptop business this time, but in fact, the mainstream chip manufacturing process used in laptops is only about 10 nanometers, which is far from high-end applications such as mobile phones. Now that Huawei has achieved a breakthrough in the field of mobile phone chips, it is fully capable of quickly launching self-developed laptop chips.
In other words, the lethality of this US sanction is limited, and it may lose its dominance in the laptop chip market in the future. This reflects that the United States has fewer and fewer sanctions "weapons" at hand, and it is difficult to curb the technological rise of Chinese companies.
In fact, this situation was foreshadowed by the U.S. sanctions against a small walkie-talkie manufacturer. The U.S. claims that the manufacturer infringes Motorola's patents, but in fact, this niche product has long been outdated and is only needed for a few special occasions. This clearly exposes the limits of the US technology crackdown measures.
Overall, the U.S. government's sanctions on Huawei demonstrate more of the determination and ability of Chinese companies to get rid of their dependence on the United States for key technologies. Chinese enterprises are accelerating independent innovation, looking for new technology paths, and fundamentally building an independent chip industry system.
Therefore, this time the sanctions failed to cause an uproar as the United States hoped, but instead highlighted the confidence and resilience of Chinese companies. This may also mark a new stage in the Sino-US technology war.
China's independent chip innovation is no longer limited to emergency measures, and the path of disruptive technology is emerging
So, in this protracted Sino-US technology game, how will China's chip industry break through?
First of all, it should be pointed out that the independent innovation measures of Chinese enterprises and scientific research institutions are no longer limited to emergency "firefighting" measures. Instead, they are looking for new disruptive technology paths to fundamentally reshape the global chip industry landscape.
Taking Huawei's breakthrough in the field of 5G chips as an example, this is a vivid case. In the face of the comprehensive blockade of the United States, Huawei did not simply respond passively, but finally achieved self-sufficiency in 5G chips through continuous independent research and development. This not only ensures the core competitiveness of its own products, but also injects strong confidence into China's chip industry.
For another example, the "optical silicon" chip newly developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences adopts a semiconductor technology path completely different from that led by the United States. With the advantages of low cost, low optical loss, and high conversion efficiency, it is expected to achieve breakthroughs in quantum computing, optical communication and other fields in the future.
This move to find a path to disruptive technology not only reflects the innovation resilience of Chinese companies and research teams, but also reflects that they are fundamentally seeking breakthroughs. And this is fundamentally different from the past practice of simply catching up and making up for shortcomings.
As the law of historical development shows, technological change is often not linear, but presents a subversive coverage of old technology by new technology platforms. For example, gunpowder technology replaced the traditional bow and spear and became the dominant weapon that determined the direction of war; The electric motor also gradually replaced the steam engine, which promoted the change of the entire national system.
For China's chip industry, a similar situation is happening. U.S. companies have accumulated rich experience in the field of traditional semiconductor technology, but it is precisely in the context that this technology path is subverted by Chinese companies through emerging scenarios such as electric vehicles, and China's chip industry is looking for a new breakthrough.
In this context, Chinese enterprises are also actively exploring breakthroughs in emerging application scenarios such as industrial control and automotive electronics. Although these fields cannot completely replace the dominant position of the United States in the field of high-end general-purpose chips for the time being, they provide a broad space for Chinese enterprises to give full play to the advantages of independent innovation.
It is based on the breakthroughs in these emerging application scenarios that China's chip industry is gradually realizing independence and control. Taking Huawei's success in the field of 5G chips as an example, it not only ensures the competitiveness of its own products, but also injects strong confidence into China's chip industry.
More importantly, this shift from "responding to fire" to actively seeking breakthroughs undoubtedly reflects the innovation resilience of Chinese enterprises and scientific research teams. They are no longer limited to simply catching up, but are trying to fundamentally reshape the global chip industry pattern by finding disruptive technology paths.
In general, in the context of the Sino-US technology game, China's chip industry is undergoing a profound transformation. The increasingly out-of-control containment policy of the United States has not only not hindered the technological rise of Chinese enterprises, but has become an important driving force for China to accelerate the pace of independent innovation.
In the future, with the continuous exploration of Chinese enterprises and scientific research teams, we have reason to believe that China's chip industry will make breakthroughs in new technology paths, and finally take the initiative in this new round of scientific and technological competition.
The new round of U.S. sanctions against Huawei will undoubtedly become a key node for China's chip industry to break through independently. It is believed that in the coming time, Chinese enterprises will continue to aim at "independent and controllable key technologies", and finally grasp the initiative in this protracted battle through in-depth exploration of disruptive technology paths.