This is your US-China CyberPulse: Defense Updates podcast.

It’s Ting here and yes, I am caffeinated, firewalled, and ready to zap you straight into the heart of this week’s US-China CyberPulse. Hang on, because this digital drama just leveled up.

Hot off the press: the 90-day grace period for the Justice Department’s sweeping new data security rules just ended. That means every US company handling bulk sensitive data—from health records to biometric info—had to lock down against foreign access, with China topping the “countries of concern” list. If you’ve been snoozing, the DOJ’s Data Security Program now comes with real teeth, enforcing restrictions on any data transaction that could let adversaries tap into Americans’ most personal info. So, if your company’s vendor has a faint scent of Alibaba or Tencent on its ownership paperwork, start sweating—fines and federal scrutiny just became your new daily vitamins.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” landed like a quantum-encrypted sledgehammer on the tech sector. There’s now a tidal wave of federal funding, juicy tax credits, and R&D money for US-based AI infrastructure, data centers, and semiconductors. But here’s the catch: your supply chain better be cleaner than your browser history. “Prohibited foreign entities” (read: Chinese partners) are strictly out. Forget tech licensing deals with Chinese companies—the rules are so strict they’d give your compliance officer nightmares. Even royalty agreements and software service contracts can nix your eligibility for funding if there’s a hint of Chinese control.

Now, let’s talk government strategy. Washington isn’t just shoring up defenses—it’s going on the cyber-offensive. The Trump administration has greenlit a jaw-dropping $1 billion for “offensive cyber operations,” mostly pointed at the Indo-Pacific, and yes, that means China. But here’s the twist: this budget increase for digital saber-rattling was balanced by cuts to defensive cybersecurity programs, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. That’s like buying a new tank and selling your body armor to pay for it. Not everyone’s thrilled—Senator Ron Wyden called it an open invitation for digital retaliation, and he’s not alone in sounding the alarm.

So, has there been any progress on international cooperation? Let’s put it this way: at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur, the US and China couldn’t even agree on lunch, let alone cyber norms. The golden era of the US-China Cyber Working Group and the Xi-Obama cyber theft deal? Ancient history, buried under today’s tariffs and tit-for-tat hacking accusations. Now both sides spend more energy blaming each other for state-sponsored cyber offensives than building the trust needed to actually fix things.

That leaves the private sector scrambling for solutions. American companies are pumping R&D into AI-driven cybersecurity, advanced analytics, and resilient network architecture like there’s no tomorrow. Google execs are practically shouting from rooftops that only by harnessing commercial innovation can America keep up with China’s warp-speed advances in AI and 5G.

For all my tech-head listeners, the stakes couldn’t be higher. China’s government is pouring trillions into becoming a global S&T powerhouse, with 5G, AI, and biotech dominating its GDP by next year. The US still leads in AI software and semiconductor design, but China’s central planning delivers rapid-fire infrastructure at scale. The global digital battlefield is set, and whoever shapes the rules, wins the future.

Thanks for tuning in to US-China CyberPulse—don’t forget to subscribe and catch every byte. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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