This is your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates podcast.

Listeners, Ting here with your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates, coming at you from the eye of this digital hurricane where cyber, chips, and geopolitics collide. So strap in—because what a fortnight it has been.

Last week’s cybersecurity exposé was all about the Chinese threat group APT24—yep, those usual suspects just won’t quit. Google Threat Intelligence flagged them cozying up to a clever new malware, “BadAudio,” which has been quietly siphoning data from more than 1,000 websites since 2022—especially via tainted JavaScript in supply chain libraries. Their latest move? Watering hole attacks, tricking visitors to official sites into installing fake updates. Real Mission: Impossible stuff, but with more boring code and fewer explosions. Toss in a general rise in ransomware—thanks to groups like ShinyHunters hopping on their new “ShinySp1d3r” ransomware-as-a-service bandwagon—and you’ve got a cyber landscape where nobody can relax, not even for a wok-fried second.

Now, on the restrictions and policy front, November brought the big twist: the US Department of Commerce suspended its controversial Affiliates Rule for one year. That rule would have basically extended US tech export bans not just to China’s headline firms but to their foreign subsidiaries—think Dutch chipmaker Nexperia caught in the crossfire over its Chinese parent Wingtech. But don’t pop the baijiu, because the pause is part of a handshake with Beijing—China in return is suspending rare earths export controls, the minerals that make your supercomputers super. This is buy-one-get-one geopolitics, but every deal seems to involve a semiconductor plant and some sweaty customs agents.

Meanwhile, the US is still turbocharging domestic innovation. The White House is dangling the July AI Action Plan, slashing red tape and promising to out-innovate China. But, as War on the Rocks points out, America’s allies aren’t buying “innovation”—they want legal compliance, documentation, and privacy guarantees. Enter Huawei, which just dropped its Kirin 9030 chip in the new Mate 80, and is expanding “Safe City” surveillance in Europe. While the US frets over regulatory clarity, China is selling “compliance-ready” systems to a global audience. Slam dunk for Beijing? Maybe.

Semiconductor competition is as spicy as ever. China’s CXMT just launched DDR5 AI memory chips boasting 8,000 megabits-per-second speeds. The US, for its part, keeps tightening who can buy Nvidia’s latest H200 chips, although there are whispers in the Beltway about loosening those rules as Trump’s administration ponders more “reciprocal” tariffs—a 30% wallop still in place on Chinese imports since April.

All of this leaves supply chains dazed and manufacturers scrambling to reroute, rework, or reshore. The real power right now? Whoever controls critical components and the flow of rare earths. China’s still got the minerals edge, but with ongoing calls in Washington and Brussels for open-source AI and supply chain “de-risking,” expect 2026 to be a year of whack-a-mole disruptions.

Expert take: This isn’t just a chip war—it’s regulatory chess, malware intrigue, and the biggest supply chain game of Twister you’ve ever seen. Tech independence sounds awesome…until you run low on rare earths or certified chips.

My forecast? Cyber threats will get stealthier, watchdogs will bite harder, and “decoupling” will stay the word du jour—but no one’s truly decoupled when the cloud connects us all. Stay plugged in, listeners!

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