Begin with this: If a Democratic president had reversed his predecessor and approved the sale of advanced semiconductor chips to China, and the CEO of the company that had advocated for the sale turned out to be having an extramarital affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, and the U.S. government approved the export of the chips to Chinese companies that do not appear to exist other than on paper — then, yes, many Republicans’ heads would explode like that guy’s in “Scanners.”
And if a Democratic president had approved the deal to allow the company to sell its second-most-powerful chip to China in exchange for the U.S. government’s taking one-quarter of the proceeds, and that company had donated $25 million to the president’s White House ballroom vanity project, Republicans would probably start impeachment proceedings so fast you could measure it with a stopwatch.
All that (apart from the impeachment, so far) has happened, but with the parties reversed. Late last year, President Donald Trump overturned a Biden-era policy and allowed Chinese firms to buy Nvidia’s second-most powerful artificial intelligence chip, the H200. Republicans who are usually allies of the president questioned the move. The Chinese Communist Party “will use these highly advanced chips to strengthen its military capabilities and totalitarian surveillance,” said Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Michigan), chair of the House Select Committee on China. “Nvidia should be under no illusions — China will rip off its technology, mass produce it themselves, and seek to end Nvidia as a competitor. That is China’s playbook and it is using it in every critical industry.”
Nvidia said on Sunday that it was opening an investigation into its chief executive and co-founder, Jensen Huang, after he acknowledged to the company’s board that he had been intimate with a business executive whom U.S. intelligence has determined to be a Chinese spy. Nvidia’s statement noted that “while the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information.”
Last week, Reuters reported that about 600,000 Nvidia H200 chips are sitting in Hong Kong awaiting shipment to mainland China, because Beijing has not approved large-scale imports. But the fact that the addresses of some of the companies ordering the chips are empty offices suggests that someone in China wants those chips and doesn’t want anyone to know where they’re going or how they’re being used. And if that someone doesn’t want anyone to know how they’re using those chips … well, it probably isn’t to make the world a better place for everyone.
So go right ahead: Knock the president around like a piñata. He has earned it. It’s not a good idea for the U.S. government to be getting a share of a company’s profits from overseas sales, nor is it a good idea for the U.S. government to take an ownership share in 41 companies. There’s just too much potential for conflicts of interest; what’s best for the companies is not always what’s best for national security, and vice versa.
Democrats, you will soon be in charge of Congress. If you want to pass a law blocking the export of these chips, you can do that. If you want the government to divest from all these private companies, you can force that change, presuming Trump doesn’t veto it. (It turns out we may need the allegedly socialist Democrats to get the government out of private business!)
One of the odder facets of Trump’s presidencies has been how he debuted as a furious critic of “CHY-na,” as he pronounces it, accusing the Asian power of “raping” the United States, yet transitioned to a man who featured Chinese flags alongside the Stars and Stripes at the White House during President Xi Jinping’s September visit.
The New York Times reported that Trump told journalists “he had no regrets about his own lack of action when he was told about a year ago that the U.S. intelligence community was electronically surveilling Ms. Huang.”
Trump can seemingly find a sinister motive behind just about anything, from daylight saving time to the guest selection on Fox News, but apparently Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy didn’t strike him as worth much concern. (The Chinese government denies she is a spy, but let’s face it — it’s not as if they were going to say, “Yup, you caught us.”)
Democrats are not traditionally the more hawkish party in Washington, but come January — when there will be a lot fewer Republicans around — it will be up to them to stiffen the spine of the U.S. government in its policies toward the CCP, and of the American businesses so eager to do business with Beijing.
The post The strange, sordid case of Trump, China and the AI chips appeared first on Washington Post.
