USA

Congress should share, not shield, US artificial intelligence tech

China recently made a big move in the ongoing technology race against the US Introduced the fastest supercomputer It is known as LineShine in human history.

Before this week, it was awarded the honor thanks to the El Capitan machine at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA. China’s victory is more symbolic than anything else, but it raises an important question: How was China able to achieve this despite years of increasingly stringent US export restrictions?

The US imposes significant restrictions on technology exports to China, including graphics processing units and the machines used to produce them. These units provide supercomputers with the enormous processing power they need to operate.

However, China’s LineShine record holder does not use graphics processing units. It effectively bypassed American trade barriers by relying on a massive network of standard microprocessors.

Therein lies a lesson for the United States, where Washington is trying to hobble China’s tech industry by preventing it from importing U.S.-made semiconductors and other products. But as LineShine shows, these restrictions don’t always work; they often forced China to adapt.

The same point was made earlier this year by the federal government. reverse route As to whether Nvidia could export its H20 chips for use in advanced Chinese AI models.

The Trump administration has acknowledged with praise that if the Chinese are going to develop artificial intelligence, they should at least use American chips.

Unfortunately, Beijing told the Americans: “Thanks but no thanks.“ In the face of restrictions on H20 imports, the Chinese had already developed homegrown alternatives.

China is effectively trying to get around Washington’s restrictions by supporting its own domestic technology industry. It focuses on scale and establishes itself as a global leader in everything the US tries to prevent from importing or producing.

This is a smart strategy. America needs to take a hint.

Given that China is widely viewed as a national security threat, there is room for restraint in the technology race. But restrictions alone do not mean that America will secure either its sovereignty or its economic future.

If Washington’s response is to classify more and more technology as exports and wall it off from the rest of the world, America risks losing the competition it is trying to win.

That’s exactly why Congress should think twice before further expanding export controls with proposals like the Remote Access Security Act. The bill doesn’t just prevent sensitive technologies and high-risk use cases from flowing to China. Instead, it aims to ban U.S. providers from offering services to any companies that employ Chinese citizens, regardless of how bona fide their underlying technologies are or whether their corporate customers are based in allied countries.

This is an extraordinarily broad approach that risks narrowing rather than expanding the reach of American technology. The bill would make US platforms less attractive to international customers.

And these customers won’t stop using AI just because Washington makes it harder to access American services. They will migrate elsewhere. Every customer Washington alienates from American cloud providers is another customer Huawei doesn’t have to win over on the merits.

We should not give new business to Chinese tech companies through our own policy mistakes. This does not include China’s influence. It helps China expand.

The real goal shouldn’t just be to keep American technology away from China. It should be about ensuring that the rest of the world continues to develop American technology rather than Chinese alternatives. Winning the AI race isn’t just about denying access. It’s about mastering adoption.

Just as China strengthens domestic technology production, the United States needs to do the same.

There is a solid foundation here to build on. It is often lamented that the US invented the semiconductor and that this saw innovation and manufacturing shift to East Asia. But since Congress passed CHIPS Act In 2022, the US is stepping back by treating semiconductors as a matter of industrial policy and supporting their production.

A Taiwanese company is building $165 billion semiconductor manufacturing campus One of the most lucrative construction projects in the world, in the Arizona desert. This also demonstrates the potential for domestic growth among U.S. companies.

The United States has deep and enduring advantages over Chinese technology, from its ability to attract talent to its formidable venture capital base. The U.S. tech industry is also much more privatized than China’s state-controlled system, allowing the dollar to pursue new ideas more easily and efficiently. He needs to use these advantages to his advantage.

Having the world’s fastest supercomputer will not determine who wins the AI race. To become a platform where the rest of the world trusts your will.

Washington should spend less time building barriers around American innovation and more time ensuring the world continues to choose it over China.

Ram Bala is an associate professor of Artificial Intelligence and Analytics at Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business.

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