This is your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates podcast.

Hey listeners, Ting here, your boots-on-the-ground cyber sage with the latest Beijing Bytes—US-China Tech War Updates, and wow, these past two weeks have been a codebreaker’s fever dream. Let’s jack straight into the big moves, glitches, and expert buzz shaping the global tech war as of July 13th, 2025.

Let’s start with the electric pulse of **cybersecurity**. Just days ago, Italian cops in Milan nabbed Zewei Xu, a 33-year-old Chinese national wanted by the FBI and linked to China’s Silk Typhoon (aka Hafnium) hacking crew. Xu’s group allegedly infiltrated everything from Western COVID vaccine research at UT Austin to government email swarms, swiping sensitive US policy and IP. With international law finally syncing up, the FBI even slapped a $10 million bounty on another rogue Chinese hacker unit. The message? Global dragnet mode is on for state-aligned hackers—and cyber-espionage is no longer a ghost in the shell, but a headline[TechRadar, TS2].

On to **tech restrictions**—the perennial tug of war. The US is still flexing its muscles, especially in semiconductors and AI. Remember those juicy NVIDIA H100/H200 chips and AMD’s MI300X? Still banned for China. But—plot twist—last month a fragile truce let Chinese firms access Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software again. Now Cadence and Synopsys can ship high-end chip design tools eastward. India’s Ruchir Dixit points out this blurs the line between hardware supply chains and code, and could turbocharge Chinese chip design just as the US tried to slow it[ET, AInvest]. Of course, while the US lifts one fence, it’s raising tariffs, threatening a 25% chip levy come July 9, with some $15 billion of extra pain for companies like NVIDIA, who are meanwhile doubling down on Arizona with TSMC to localize production and dodge the crossfire.

What’s China’s counter? **Rare earths and local chip hustle.** China’s tightening its grip on gallium and germanium exports, vital for Western chips, while Huawei and Xiaomi have stunned Washington by pumping out advanced chips like the 7nm Kirin 9000S—designed, built, and boxed entirely in China. Experts say that if the tempo keeps up, China could soon ditch foreign tech altogether, turning sanctions into reverse rocket fuel for its semiconductor ascent. That’s a plot twist US policymakers definitely didn’t order[Daily Galaxy].

**Policy shifts** on both sides are wild. Beijing’s doubling down on “future industries”—think humanoid robots, brain-computer links, and 6G gear—staking its next five-year plan on leapfrog tech. Meanwhile, US companies like Lam Research and Applied Materials are riding the CHIPS Act wave, locking billions to build American fabs and fortify supply chains that really don’t want another COVID-style nightmare.

What does it all mean for the industry? It’s an arms race for brains and bytes. Chinese AI startups like DeepSeek are closing the gap, but NVIDIA’s ecosystem still rules in architecture and training. Sector resilience now means relentless diversification; US firms are even pivoting hard to Middle Eastern markets, inking mega deals with Gulf sovereign funds to patch revenue gaps.

Expert consensus: This is a chess game on hyper-speed. The immediate future? Expect more cyberattacks, sanctions whack-a-mole, surprise policy detentes, and relentless innovation. But the grand strategy—making sure your tech doesn’t depend on your biggest rival—will rule the next decade.

Listeners, thanks for plugging into Beijing Bytes. Don’t forget to subscribe for more tech war witticisms and analysis. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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