Why it matters: Earlier this month, the US government blocked the sale of specific chips to anyone in China. We see this as an important change by the government in the tactics they are deploying. The United States has gone from blocking specific companies in China, to blocking all companies and focusing on specific products.
This is a big change, and opens up the question – what exactly are they hoping to achieve? This matters obviously in that it can help us predict the outcome, but we increasingly hold the view that the government may not have entirely thought through how this will ultimately play out.
Cutting corners: Washington is preparing new rules to ban exports of advanced chipmaking devices to China, a move that could, however, be too little too late as Asian manufacturing companies are already engaged in making sub-14nm semiconductors on their own.
As awareness of global surveillance grows, more people are looking for information about the Five Eyes (FVEY), Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes surveillance alliances. So what are these organizations?