This is your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates podcast.
Hey listeners, Ting here, your friendly neighborhood China–cyber–hack nerd, back with another round of Beijing Bytes on the US–China tech war. Let’s jack straight into the matrix.
Over the past two weeks, the headline grabber has been chips and AI power. Techspective reports that Beijing has quietly kicked off what insiders are calling a “Silicon Manhattan Project” in Shenzhen, a state‑backed crash program to reverse‑engineer ASML‑class EUV lithography so China can make sub‑7‑nanometer chips without touching a single American‑controlled chokepoint. Reuters and Taiwan News, cited in that analysis, say there’s already an experimental EUV light source working in a secure lab, with Huawei and top leadership figures like Ding Xuexiang coordinating the push. If that’s real, it compresses the West’s assumed decade‑long lead in advanced semiconductors down to maybe three to five years and would shred the leverage behind U.S. export controls.
Washington’s answer has been to throw money, laws, and lawyers at the problem. The EurAsian Times notes that the new FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act steers nearly a trillion dollars toward closing tech gaps with China and Russia, with billions for AI, hypersonics, space‑based sensors, quantum, and a hardened supply chain that cuts reliance on Chinese optical components and critical materials like gallium and germanium. At the same time, coverage from outlets like AOL highlights a new Senate proposal to lock in current AI‑chip export controls, making it harder for future administrations to quietly loosen the screws on companies like NVIDIA when Beijing complains.
On the Chinese side, the legal stack is getting thicker and sharper. AInvest details how 2025 updates to the Cybersecurity Law, Network Data Security Management Regulations, and new AI labeling rules hard‑wire data localization and content control into China’s digital economy, while Chinadaily describes a revised Foreign Trade Law that beefs up Beijing’s toolkit for weaponizing export controls and digital trade in any future showdown.
Meanwhile, the cyber domain is a live‑fire range. DeXpose reports the SafePay ransomware gang hammering U.S. targets like Harvey & Martin, PLLC and the Raritan Yacht Club, and AInvest tracks how crypto‑enabled cybercrime now routes billions through “Chinese laundromat” networks tied to North Korean operators. On the flip side, WebProNews recounts white‑hat hackers at Shanghai’s GEEKCon hijacking Chinese robots from Unitree with a whispered command, raising alarms in the U.S. as those bots creep into prisons and defense logistics.
Strategically, Andrew Erickson’s analysis of the latest Pentagon report on Chinese military power, along with commentary in The Japan Times, converges on one point: AI and cyber are now core to deterrence, not just cool gadgets. Expect more U.S. pressure on allies through frameworks like the new “Pax Silica” tech bloc described by the Jerusalem Post, and more Chinese efforts to route around the American‑led chip and cloud stack entirely.
My forecast: 2026 is going to be less “trade war” and more “layer‑8 cyber‑cold war” — simultaneous hardware denial, legal warfare, AI race, and supply‑chain hacking, all running in parallel. For companies, that means geofenced architectures, dual tech stacks, and compliance officers who sleep with both the Cybersecurity Law and the NDAA on their nightstand.
Thanks for tuning in, listeners, and don’t forget to subscribe. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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