It's your cyber savvy friend ting here. And if you thought last week's Beijing bites with spicy, grab your VPN. This tech war has turned the heat to eleven. Over the last two weeks, the US China technology rivalry has gone from high stakes chess to all out cyber speed chess, and everyone's feeling the burn. Governments, corporations, and yes, even Auntie Jiang trying to buy her favorite smartphone. Let's hit the big headlines first. On the US side. President Trump,
yes he's back in the headlines. Just doubled down on steel and aluminum tariffs to fifty cent. They're calculating it on the steel content now for extra policy flare. Somewhat ironically, he also granted a big tariff exemption for electronics like smartphones and semiconductors, so at least for now, your next laptop upgrade might avoid the customs blues. But don't relax yet.
Chinese semiconductors, for instance, still got hit with a thumping fifty percent tariff, and the so called one hundred and twenty five percent recipro tariff is hovering over a raft of Chinese goods minus electronics. Basically, trade policy is now like a Rubik's cube if it was missing some stickers and the corner pieces kept moving by themselves. Meanwhile, those infamous choke points in global supply chains have gotten even tighter.
The US has locked China out of EUV machines, the crown jewels of chip making courtesy of Dutch tech giant ASML. That means China, which controls the lion's share of rare earths think eighty five percent of global capacity, is flexing its minerals while scrambling to catch up in chips. Beijing's one hundred and forty three billion dollars semiconductor self sufficiency blitz is running at full tilt, but thanks to US export bands and knowledge restrictions, their AI and advanced systems
ambitions are feeling the pinch. Q Huawei and semik having to reinvent their entire playbooks talk about being forced to pivot industry wise. The fallout is everywhere. Smartphone exports from China down a record shattering seventy two cent. That's not just a dip, that's a nosedive. Global supply chains, especially for semiconductors, are being remapped in real time, and smaller countries are caught in the cross fire, forced to pick
tech teams like its digital dodgeball cybersecurity. Let's just say both sides are watching each other's networks like hawks, with state sponsored hacks and retaliatory measures quietly fueling the tension. Experts are calling this phase a new Cold War, but less about missiles, more about microchips and code. Looking ahead,
fragmentation is the new normal. Both the US and China are prioritizing technological sovereignty over easy profits, and that's shaping everything from national security policy to the next AI breakthrough. Brace yourself. The rest of twenty twenty five will see more targeted tech bands, tit for tat cyber ops, and an endless sprint for silicon self sufficiency. As for the global economy, well, in this new era, everyone needs to update their risk assessments and maybe their firewalls too. That's
all for this edition of Beijing Bites. Don't forget when the world argues about chips, it's never just about chips. This is ting signing off from the cyberfront. Thanks for listening. Make sure you hit the subscribe button and never miss an update. This has been a quiet Please production. For more check out quiet, please dot Ai