CHINA VOICES | China debates aggressive response to US chip ban

The US on May 15 announced a set of strict new rules intended to cut Huawei off from all advanced semiconductor makers. These rule changes set WeChat abuzz with what to do next.

Proposed responses range from a massive national project to catch up in semiconductor technology, to the rise of a new generation of Chinese young people better equipped to navigate and rewrite the rules of the global governance regime. A disconcerting number of articles suggest, at times as a casual aside, that Huawei’s problems would disappear if China takes control of Taiwan, and with it Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturer.

Even the cooler heads propose rather aggressive industrial policies. Ning Nanshan, an anonymous Shenzhen-based commentator on Chinese industrial and economic developments, argues that Huawei will be able to buy cutting-edge chips that are free of American technological components in a matter of years, and that in the meantime Huawei’s business can survive in order to maintain China’s dominance in 5G.

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