In a global trading environment, sanctions regimes are an added cost to procurement you impose on adversaries, not an impenetrable denial of materials. Huawei can't cost compete if it has to smuggle chips constantly.
It also trashes their R&D. Imagine if every LLM researcher in America had to smuggle in Iranian cores to do any work.
One of the saddest stories of the 21st century is China’s decline into despotism. They didn’t have democracy, but they had internal political competition and a peaceful transfer of power. In an alternate world, Xi is comfortably retired while China and America drive a new century of human prosperity.
Although I do want to endorse the idea that their political system is probably going to undermine the successes of their businesses. From the outside it looks like a disaster waiting to happen.
> their political system is probably going to undermine the successes of their businesses
I do agree with this
US starts trade war, banning Chinese industries, weaponize supply chain, exchanges, collaboration in attempt to destroy Chinese economy, cause 1.4B to go back to proverty. What is US' aim here? Make 1.4b ppl suffer so they will listen to US's demands? To prove a political point? Please tell me is there any Chinese person US haven't attacked? US only loves Chinese if they are dissidents because they help the US destroy China from within. Chinese person just make up a story China government did something bad to me and they get an invitation to Congress. And Congress has stopped even pretending they care to help these Chinese anymore, they use this to justify more attacks on Chinese people and make more Chinese people suffer. US government: yes we care about Chinese ppl and that's why we ban all of their products, destroy all their labor, now these Chinese are jobless can't afford food on the table, what? The supposed solution to lack of freedom is more bans and oppression.
We can build a prosperous, mutually respected, win-win world today, no conflict, no attacks, no suffering, if US allows it to be. You are attacking people, and you can stop. Did we steal 5G, did we steal EV batteries? Last I heard Huawei is paying billions to Qualcomm for 5G patent licenses, dispute can be negotiated with good faith and mutual respect. But it doesn't work if one party just to demonize you and want you dead so he can be only kid in the block. China does want to buy US goods, but the one we want to buy you don't sell. We are happy to pay 10k for Nvidia chips but you stopped selling not us. World is large enough for US and China to both succeed.
If the most meaningful attack someone has to face is their country getting stuck with a few tariffs, that person leads a charmed life.
Ok, now you've got "something" here even resembling a netlist (lol), what do you do with it? Keep in mind: you don't actually have the manufacturing technology to use this IP. By the time you do, the IC you reversed is no longer state of the art.
I think state-sponsored corporate espionage would be a lot more fruitful and cheaper.
Is "highly efficient manufacturing" a euphemism for low paid labor and slave labor?
As far as I know pretty much any product that moved production to China did it because of low labor costs. It's also been reported that companies have also exited China into other low paid labor countries in the region.
Meanwhile the only factories that return to the US are exactly the ones that invested in automation and efficient manufacturing, as it's the only way to beat the low costs.
They've also managed to pump out really cheap solar panels and EVs, but it's not clear to me how much of that is upgraded automation vs government subsidies.
Manufacturing electronics in China hasn't been about labor costs for a decade. It's still about costs overall but instead of people it's access to the right machines, close enough to where everything else is being sourced and final assembly is done etc.
Everyone can see this. Only (some) white Americans don't want to acknowledge it, or need to explain it away.
No, it might have once but Chinese labor isn't that cheap anymore. It means a well educated population, stable government, good infrastructure and other manufacturers in proximity.
>They've also managed to pump out really cheap solar panels and EVs, but it's not clear to me how much of that is upgraded automation vs government subsidies.
The price of solar panels has followed Wright’s Law for about 5 decades, there's nothing out of the ordinary about the last decade. If all the reduction in price was subsidies the Chinese government would be subsidizing about 90% of the price of every panel. Same thing for batteries.
> China’s decline into despotism
Things are very different now with a one-man cult of personality.
See, e.g., https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CHN/chi...
They told the same during the Hu era and they will write the same to Xi successor. The enmity is structural.
I think the US and the west would be doing the exact same things to China regardless of what happened with Xi.
When China decided to design phones instead of manufacturing them for American companies, that's when their fate was sealed and the west (and Japan) took action. China wanted to move up the value chain. The west wanted China to remain as their factory.
The "China bad" propaganda is just to convince western commoners that doing these things to China is justified.
It's about economics and power. Always is. Always has been.
>“When governments permit counterfeiting or copying of American products, it is stealing our future, and it is no longer free trade.” So said US President Ronald Reagan, commenting on Japan after the Plaza Accord was concluded in September 1985.
But Japan and Korea weren't/aren't nearly the threat of China due to size.