Despite the decades-old American export restrictions to prevent such sales, China‘s top nuclear weapons research institute has continuously purchased sophisticated U.S. computer chips over the past two and a half years – at least 12 times!
Despite being blocked by the U.S. in 1997, a Wall Street Journal review of procurement documents has revealed that since 2020, China’s state-run Academy of Engineering Physics has been able to acquire semiconductors from leading American companies such as Intel and Nvidia.
They Buy Banned Chips Through Resellers
The chips, commonly used to power data centers and personal computers, were sourced from resellers in China. Some of them were bought as components for computing systems, while others served the Institute’s laboratory investigating computational fluid dynamics – a widely-studied scientific field that covers nuclear explosion simulation.
For years, the U.S. has implemented regulations to deter the exploitation of American products for nuclear weapons research abroad; however, CAEP (Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics) seemingly disregarded these rules and thereby became one of the first organizations in China placed on America’s “entity list.” This action was taken due to their continued involvement in nuclear activities.
This Situation Shows The Difficulties In Preventing China From Reaching The Chip
A comprehensive review of the research papers published by CAEP revealed that at least 34 contained references to American semiconductors over the past decade. In addition, these components were employed in various ways, such as data analysis and algorithm development. Nuclear experts noted that at least seven of them could have potential applications for sustaining nuclear stockpiles – however, CAEP failed to respond when contacted for comment on this matter.
The report’s discoveries demonstrate the problematic mission ahead of President Biden as he tries to implement more effective methods for combating China’s military forces by utilizing U.S. technology. In October, due to this purpose, America broadened its export regulations and put measures preventing Chinese access to our most advanced chips and chip-manufacturing tools necessary for AI mechanisms and supercomputers – resources essential for modern warfare operations.
