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

Hey listeners, this is Ting, bringing you another fiery edition of Beijing Bytes, where I cut through the digital fog of the US-China tech war with equal parts brain and banter. Buckle up—these past two weeks were packed with enough cyber drama and policy chess to fill a data center.

First, let’s talk hacking. If you thought Beijing’s cyber actors were lying low, think again. The notorious threat group TA415—also known as APT41, Brass Typhoon, or “those guys who never sleep”—has been running a fresh phishing blitz, impersonating none other than John Moolenaar, Chair of the US House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition with the CCP, and even spoofing emails from the US-China Business Council. According to Proofpoint, these emails, sent in July and August, targeted US government offices, think tanks, and academics, all focused on America’s China policy and trade. The lures? Closed-door briefings, draft legislation, collaboration offers—classic social engineering. The payload? Not just malware, but a slick twist: using Visual Studio Code remote tunnels for persistent access, instead of the usual malware suspects. Proofpoint researchers noted that TA415’s infrastructure overlaps with historical Chinese state-linked operations, and let’s just say Chengdu 404 Network Technology’s fingerprints are all over this. The timing is spicy: right as US-China trade talks intensify, Beijing’s cyber warriors are clearly playing for intel dominance, not just control.

Meanwhile, on the hardware front, the chip war goes nuclear. The US Commerce Department, never shy to flex, just updated its Entity List to slap export controls on a bunch of Chinese tech firms, including the National Time Service Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics. The goal? Disrupt China’s military-civil fusion strategy, which aims to weave civilian tech prowess into PLA modernization. The Commerce Department’s reasoning: these firms are too cozy with the PLA, dabbling in everything from quantum computing to AI chips for the Chinese military. And let’s not forget the biotech angle—several Beijing and Shanghai firms are now under scrutiny for allegedly aiding PLA biodefense research. The message from Washington is clear: no more blurry lines between China’s commercial and military tech ecosystems.

Beijing isn’t just taking punches. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation fired back by launching an antitrust investigation into Nvidia, accusing the American chip giant of anti-competitive practices. Details are scarce, but the subtext isn’t: this is Beijing’s regulatory counterpunch to US export controls, and a not-so-subtle nudge for Chinese firms to buy local. The chip industry, already reeling from US restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports, is feeling the squeeze—both sides are escalating, and the global tech supply chain is caught in the crossfire.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.