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yallmad4 t1_j6gb8p4 wrote

Reply to comment by SuperRedShrimplet in Dutch firm: US, allies near deal to limit chip tech to China by Brave_Conflict465

It's not a question of yes/no can they produce these chips, it's can they produce them in such quantities that they can make super advanced missiles at scale. The better chips you have the more advanced your munitions are. This still impacts them, and makes their ability to militarize in the short term hampered.

The short term is important because Taiwan is increasingly drifting away from the Chinese sphere of influence, and is turning their entire country into a fortress after Ukraine got Ukraine'd. The longer it takes for them to militarize to the point of being able to pull off an extremely difficult amphibious invasion, the exponentially harder that invasion will be.

Strategically, this decision is sound.

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SuperRedShrimplet t1_j6gxkqv wrote

>The better chips you have the more advanced your munitions are.

In the future perhaps. But most modern missiles that are being produced to scale largely do not use the type of advanced chips that China is being sanctioned from buying. Not unless China is firing AI missiles or missiles the size of your mobile phone. Cruise missiles aren't packing 7nm semiconductor chips. Many people seem to assume that military tech is universally more advanced than civilian when for electronics the reverse is often true.

The sanctions are devastating to China's civilian tech industry, which is nothing to balk at since they're the world's largest manufacturer of civilian electronic goods.

The sanctions are hurting China a lot, but not in terms of their military directly (obviously anything impacting your general economy is also indirectly bad for your military). You're conflating two different things here.

So yes, the decision is sound, but not for the reasons you and most redditors seem to be assuming.

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iiSystematic t1_j6h0j0b wrote

So why are we doing it exactly? Just to fuck them over for fun or?

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StandAloneComplexed t1_j6h4idc wrote

Economic advantage and to slow them down as long as possible/as much as possible so the US can stay on top.

30 years ago the bogeyman was Japan, with the very same rhetoric. Look up the Plaza Accord to see how Japan was kept in line.

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SuperRedShrimplet t1_j6h0tuy wrote

>The sanctions are devastating to China's civilian tech industry, which is nothing to balk at since they're the world's largest manufacturer of civilian electronic goods.

Did you not read this part?

What's preventing China from invading Taiwan is not their lack of military capability, it's the fact that they're a massive import/export economy who would be absolutely crippled if even half the state and private entity sanctions levied on Russia are levied on them.

For all of Russia's issues, they're at least a net producer of food and energy. China is not. They import both to produce stuff for the world. They cannot afford half the sanctions that Russia currently has.

As for why? Geopolitical advantage. China's tech industry was projected to rival that of many western countries; this is not advantageous to the US.

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iiSystematic t1_j6h1c4h wrote

>The sanctions are devastating to China's civilian tech industry, which is nothing to balk at since they're the world's largest manufacturer of civilian electronic goods

This Statement alone doesnt answer my question. It just says China is the largest manufacturer of civilian Electronic goods. Big fucking deal. What do I do with that information. What context do I put it in.

Okay so this is to prevent them from invading Taiwan? Because thats nowhere in the article hence my asking

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SuperRedShrimplet t1_j6h1ugw wrote

I edited my response to elaborate a bit more but I guess you responded before I finished that edit.

But basically it actually has very little to do with Taiwan. It's simply not in the US interest for China to be on a projection to rival them in space and supercomputing power. Nothing more nothing less. And as many of the world's semiconductor supply chains are not through China, the US has very little to lose itself by imposing these sanctions.

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throwaway490215 t1_j6hhwba wrote

>super advanced missiles at scale

You don't put small nm chips in those. They are too unreliable.

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