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Comment by colechristensen | Hacker News Reader

Real quick we're going to need to go back to treating modern CPUs like munitions with severe export controls.

For what? The Western world imports CPUs already (so no way for export controls), and China can design and manufacture their own CPUs.

In fact, your smartphone probably already exceed all ITARed chips by computing power, and it's a big irony that all of them go through China before reaching the US.

If China wanted to put some into their ICBMs, they would've been just better off wiring a smartphone to the rocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVpqh9UXmI

> If China wanted to put some into their ICBMs, they would've been just better off wiring a smartphone to the rocket.

Why am I reminded of the plot of Iron Sky 1?

It would make designing advanced CPUs for foreign manufacture illegal so further advancements couldn’t be stolen and ensuring on shore chip fab capability.

“export” controls doesn’t mean just goods, but also designs, specifications, even basic information

> so further advancements couldn’t be stolen

How would you ensure the advancements couldn't be stolen? I thought we learned over the years that if hostile power wants a technology, sooner or later they will get it.

It’s about adding friction, not achieving perfection. Chips are so complex and fabs so specialized and elaborate that it would seem relatively easy to keep development secrets rather well. They already have to build them in high grade clean rooms.

Recall that the Manhattan Project was done under as much secrecy as you could possibly hope for, but that there were multiple independent spies.

Remember when they intended to put an export ban on the PlayStation2 to North Korea, because the chips were so powerful that they could be used for missile guidance?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/716237.stm

Wasn't it simply a marketing stunt?

Inconclusive, don’t see much pointing to a stunt. PS2 and PS3 clusters were used for military testing purposes, at the least.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/20-years-later-how-concerns-about...

Go back?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjusted_Peak_Performance

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000...

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