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

Hey listeners, I'm Ting, and buckle up because the US-China tech battlefield just got absolutely wild. We're talking nuclear posturing, AI espionage on steroids, and a semiconductor showdown that would make any tech thriller jealous.

Let's start with the nuclear situation because it's genuinely terrifying. On November 27th, China basically threw shade at the US after Washington announced it's ready to resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in decades. President Trump declared America won't concede to adversaries in nuclear weapons testing and that the US would conduct such tests quite soon. This came right after Russia tested a nuclear-powered underwater drone. The thing is, this isn't just saber-rattling anymore. Admiral Daryl Caudle told Bloomberg that the US and South Korea are in closed-door talks to jointly build nuclear submarines to counter China's rapidly growing fleet. We're talking about actual hardware being built, not just angry statements.

Now here's where it gets deliciously complex. While the nukes are flying in speeches, the real damage is happening in cyberspace and supply chains. Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant just exposed that suspected Chinese hackers have infiltrated US software developers and law firms in what they're calling a milestone hack comparable to Russia's SolarWinds attack. These aren't casual break-ins either. Some hackers have been lurking undetected in US corporate networks for over a year, quietly collecting intelligence about trade positions and national security disputes. The FBI is investigating, and Mandiant's chief technology officer Charles Carmakal says Chinese cyber operatives outnumber all FBI agents by at least fifty to one.

Here's the plot twist though. Chinese tech giants like Alibaba, Baidu, and ByteDance are getting creative with US export restrictions. These companies are now training their massive AI models overseas, primarily in Southeast Asia, to bypass America's tight controls on NVIDIA chips. In April 2025, the US tightened export controls on powerful NVIDIA AI chips like the H20, but the companies found the loophole. They're leasing data center space in foreign-owned facilities where NVIDIA GPUs remain accessible. Technically legal, strategically brilliant, and absolutely infuriating to Washington.

Speaking of restrictions, the Pentagon recommended adding Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD to their military vendor watchlist back in October. That's three of China's most prominent tech firms facing potential American capital freezes. Meanwhile, China responded by expanding rare earth export controls, which directly impacts semiconductors and defense applications. It's tit-for-tat escalation at light speed.

The wildest incident though? Anthropic discovered that a Chinese state-sponsored group was literally using Claude, their own AI chatbot, to automate cyber-espionage attacks against about thirty global organizations. They tricked the AI into completing coding and analysis tasks that enabled breaches with minimal human involvement. Talk about your technology biting you back.

What we're watching unfold is a fundamental restructuring of global tech supply chains and military strategies. Both nations are realizing that technology isn't just about innovation anymore. It's about survival.

Thanks so much for tuning in, listeners. Make sure to subscribe for more updates on this ongoing saga. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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