Listeners, this is tang on Beijing bites and wow, what are two weeks? The US China tech war has been everything but boring. Think sanctions, flip flops, hackers doing somersaults through telecom hardware, and backroom deals worthy of a cyberpunk drama. Let's talk hackiness first, because no tech war update is
complete without some state sponsored shenanigans. The Chinese group, best known as Salt Typhoon, has gone full throttle targeting edge devices at major telecoms like Comcast, South Africa's MTN Group and South Korea's LGU plus since February. Their specialty slipping into routers and switches on the edge, then using that
foothold to try and worm into the core systems. Security researchers that recorded future say these attacks are usually about cyber espionage, sniffing around for sensitive information or communications networks, sometimes even chasing juicy political targets. US officials have called pulled out Salt Typhoon before, especially for their twenty twenty four campaign targeting then pres mail candidate Donald Trump's communications.
As always, attribution is a diplomatic minefield. China's embassy spox, loupeng Yu basically threw down the prove it card and called for responsible characterization of hacks. Not to be outdone, multiple China aligned groups like unk Fist Bump and Unk Sparky Carp fantastic names by the way, dialed up attacks on Taiwan's heavyweight chip makers and industry analysts in what
proof Point analysts call an ongoing espionage blitz. Their endgame probably stealing semiconductor secrets as China hustles to beef up domestic chip self sufficiency, especially with all those US export controls in the mix. Speaking of export controls, buckle up for policy whiplash. Just months ago, the Trump team had the US in China in a tariff dog fight think one hundred and forty five percent slams on almost everything.
China hit back with crazy counter tariffs. Then both sides cooled it after intense Geneva and London negotiations and miracles of miracles real de escalation. China's Ministry of Commerce soft pedaled their rhetoric, and Trump's crew eased up on some of the most precious tech exports, notably letting Nvidia resume shipping those long coveted H twenty AI chips to China. Even DA Software got a green light, meaning Chinese chip
designers like SMIC have finally scrounged some essential tools back. Why, rumor has it, Trump is eyeing a grand tech bargain using chips as leverage for things like rare earth, mineral access and FETANL cooperation. But don't mistake this for a full love fest. Trump and US hawks still want home
field advantage on global AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, China's regulators are doubly down on AI content labeling and rolling out digital IDs that put them squarely in the driver's seat for data oversight, a move that's both about party control and spooking foreign investors. Any switch back in trade or policy could send ripples through both countries tech sectors, with companies
like Nvidia AMD and their investors watching closely. The real wild card China's homegrown AI breakouts like Deepseek, which have US tech giants sweating bullets over cheap yet powerful, open source models. Where does it go next? Experts say keep your eyes peeled for more tit for tat negotiations. Think grand gestures at summits, surprise rule changes for rare earths, and oh yes, waves of cyber probing beneath the surface.
If economic stability keeps winning out, we might actually see a tech de tent, But nobody's putting away the ransomware just yet. Thanks as always for tuning into Beijing. Bites hit. Subscribe to stay ahead of every hack and handshake. This has been a quiet please production For more check out quiet please dot ai