[By Guancha Observer, Wang Yi] "The lesson from Chinese enterprises and 5G is that whoever takes the market first will be hard to replace," said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation, during a hearing at the U.S. Congress on May 8th.
On the same day, Smith, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Michael Intrator, co-founder and CEO of AI startup CoreWeave, warned at the Senate Commerce Committee's hearing titled "Winning the AI Race" that although the U.S. is temporarily ahead in the AI race with China, its technology will struggle to spread globally and maintain its lead over China if export control regulations are not adjusted and AI regulation is not relaxed.
From left to right: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Michael Intrator, co-founder and CEO of CoreWeave, and Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation. Reuters
In his opening remarks, Altman discussed the changes and potential of AI for society, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that the U.S. remains at the forefront in all areas of AI.
When asked about the current competitive situation between the U.S. and China in AI, Altman warned that although the U.S. is still leading, it is "hard to say how far ahead we are, and I don't think it will last long."
The other three also expressed similar views. Smith believed that the U.S. is currently "ahead in this evenly matched competition," but the key factor determining who wins this competition between the U.S. and China is whose technology is most widely applied around the world.
"Eighteen percent of the world's population lives in China, 4% in the U.S., and 78% elsewhere," Smith pointed out. "The lesson from Chinese enterprises and 5G is that whoever takes the market first will be hard to replace. We need to manage exports correctly. We need to earn trust from other countries in the world."
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation, speaks at the hearing. Reuters
Su also stated, "As an American company, we fully understand the importance of national security," but added, "if our technology cannot be fully utilized around the world, then other technologies will take its place."
She noted that even though China faces restrictions on using advanced technologies, "much can still be done even without the best chips," and China is definitely "catching up." Su called on the U.S. government to implement supportive policies to promote innovation at all levels.
"Maintaining American leadership also means ensuring that our technology can reach global markets," Intrator agreed with Smith and Su, saying, "We can adjust export controls and trade agreements so they address national security risks while supporting the global distribution of American AI technology."
Since 2022, the U.S. government has been forming alliances and imposing high-pressure restrictions on China's purchase of advanced chips, continuously increasing export controls. On January 13th of this year, former U.S. President Biden, as he was leaving office, announced an export control policy further restricting the export of AI chips and technology to most countries. However, this policy faced resistance from multiple parties; U.S. businesses criticized that this move would cause "unintended and lasting damage" to America's semiconductor and AI global competitiveness, and U.S. allies were also "concerned" about it.
It is unclear to what extent the comments of the four executives persuaded the U.S. senators present, but the Trump administration recently signaled its intention to strengthen chip export controls against China.
In April this year, the Trump administration announced restrictions on the sale of NVIDIA H20 chips and AMD MI308 chips to China. Recently, Trump also indicated that he is considering modifying the export control measures of the Biden administration, changing the existing "tiered" export control to a "global licensing system."
In response to the U.S. malicious blockade and suppression of China's semiconductor industry, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly expressed its firm stance. The U.S. has politicized, generalized, and instrumentalized economic and technological issues, constantly adding to the export control of chips to China, coercing other countries to suppress China's semiconductor industry. This behavior hinders the development of the global semiconductor industry and will ultimately backfire, harming both others and itself.
This article is an exclusive contribution by Guancha Observer and cannot be reprinted without permission.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7502355887732572711/
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