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Silicon Ceasefire: Nvidia's Golden Ticket, Microsoft's Friendly Fire, and APT41's Vacay from Hacking China
This is your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates podcast.
Hey listeners, it's Ting! Buckle up for today’s Beijing Bytes, where your favorite tech whisperer wraps up a wild fortnight in the ongoing US-China tech chess match. The weather in Washington is hot and steamy—and the news in cyber and semis is even hotter.
Right out of the gates: a plot twist no one saw coming. July delivered a rare ceasefire in the infamous chip war. After years of exports bans piling higher than my overdue code reviews, the US actually dialed things back. On July 3, President Trump’s administration suddenly lifted a ban on vital chip design software sales to China, undoing a move that rattled EDA goliaths like Synopsys and Cadence. Their stock popped instantly—and for one golden moment, analysts dared to praise a “small ceasefire” between Washington and Beijing. Not to be outdone, the US greenlit Nvidia to resume some advanced AI chip sales to China, just months after a blanket ban choked off the last pipeline. Traders on Wall Street cheered, but Capitol Hill? Far less amused. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, fired off a warning that selling Nvidia’s H20 chips could “provide substantial increase to China’s AI development”—which, translation, means sleepless nights for US national security hawks.
What’s the game here? Simple: negotiation. Beijing responded by softening its rare earth embargo, and the two giants have opened up high-level trade talks. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed, “trade is in a good place,” hinting at more pragmatic—if fragile—tech diplomacy ahead. Yet, don’t get comfy. Deep distrust lingers. Congress is actively debating outbound investment curbs for US money into Chinese AI and semiconductors, and new strategic export controls are popping up among US allies like the Netherlands. Meanwhile in Beijing, the foreign ministry keeps railing against “tech containment,” doubling down on self-reliance and blasting what it calls the “weaponization” of science and technology.
Now let’s click over to cybersecurity—a truly nail-biting few weeks, if you’re running on-prem SharePoint. Microsoft and CISA urgently warned that hackers are exploiting a critical flaw, ToolShell, letting them waltz through SharePoint servers globally. Dozens of government and energy orgs breached, including at least two US federal agencies—ouch. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group spotted attackers planting web shells and yoinking cryptographic secrets. Recommendation: patch yesterday, assume you’re breached, investigate everything. Microsoft also faced flak after journalists revealed that China-based engineers were working on tech used by the US Department of Defense. Frank Shaw from Microsoft hastily declared: no more China-based teams on Pentagon projects, effective immediately.
Meanwhile, across the globe, China-linked hacker group APT41 embarked on fresh cyber espionage campaigns in Africa, leveraging, you guessed it, compromised SharePoint servers. Their malware cleverly avoids activating on systems set to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean—no friendly fire for these pros.
Big picture: Industry is feeling the whiplash. Nvidia expects $15 billion from China this half alone, but new export controls could still bite hard if the rules shift again. Export restrictions help US national security but sap US firm innovation if taken too far—everyone’s walking a tech tightrope.
Expert consensus? We’re in for more seesawing: fleeting détente, then new friction. Policymakers and CEOs alike are balancing innovation, revenue, and risk as China sprints toward indigenous chip design and AI. My bet? The “chip war” takes a summer breather, but the race to rule AI and cyber is only getting started.
Thanks for tuning in to Beijing Bytes. Smash that subscribe button for your next dose of cyber drama. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
Hey listeners, it's Ting! Buckle up for today’s Beijing Bytes, where your favorite tech whisperer wraps up a wild fortnight in the ongoing US-China tech chess match. The weather in Washington is hot and steamy—and the news in cyber and semis is even hotter.
Right out of the gates: a plot twist no one saw coming. July delivered a rare ceasefire in the infamous chip war. After years of exports bans piling higher than my overdue code reviews, the US actually dialed things back. On July 3, President Trump’s administration suddenly lifted a ban on vital chip design software sales to China, undoing a move that rattled EDA goliaths like Synopsys and Cadence. Their stock popped instantly—and for one golden moment, analysts dared to praise a “small ceasefire” between Washington and Beijing. Not to be outdone, the US greenlit Nvidia to resume some advanced AI chip sales to China, just months after a blanket ban choked off the last pipeline. Traders on Wall Street cheered, but Capitol Hill? Far less amused. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, fired off a warning that selling Nvidia’s H20 chips could “provide substantial increase to China’s AI development”—which, translation, means sleepless nights for US national security hawks.
What’s the game here? Simple: negotiation. Beijing responded by softening its rare earth embargo, and the two giants have opened up high-level trade talks. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed, “trade is in a good place,” hinting at more pragmatic—if fragile—tech diplomacy ahead. Yet, don’t get comfy. Deep distrust lingers. Congress is actively debating outbound investment curbs for US money into Chinese AI and semiconductors, and new strategic export controls are popping up among US allies like the Netherlands. Meanwhile in Beijing, the foreign ministry keeps railing against “tech containment,” doubling down on self-reliance and blasting what it calls the “weaponization” of science and technology.
Now let’s click over to cybersecurity—a truly nail-biting few weeks, if you’re running on-prem SharePoint. Microsoft and CISA urgently warned that hackers are exploiting a critical flaw, ToolShell, letting them waltz through SharePoint servers globally. Dozens of government and energy orgs breached, including at least two US federal agencies—ouch. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group spotted attackers planting web shells and yoinking cryptographic secrets. Recommendation: patch yesterday, assume you’re breached, investigate everything. Microsoft also faced flak after journalists revealed that China-based engineers were working on tech used by the US Department of Defense. Frank Shaw from Microsoft hastily declared: no more China-based teams on Pentagon projects, effective immediately.
Meanwhile, across the globe, China-linked hacker group APT41 embarked on fresh cyber espionage campaigns in Africa, leveraging, you guessed it, compromised SharePoint servers. Their malware cleverly avoids activating on systems set to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean—no friendly fire for these pros.
Big picture: Industry is feeling the whiplash. Nvidia expects $15 billion from China this half alone, but new export controls could still bite hard if the rules shift again. Export restrictions help US national security but sap US firm innovation if taken too far—everyone’s walking a tech tightrope.
Expert consensus? We’re in for more seesawing: fleeting détente, then new friction. Policymakers and CEOs alike are balancing innovation, revenue, and risk as China sprints toward indigenous chip design and AI. My bet? The “chip war” takes a summer breather, but the race to rule AI and cyber is only getting started.
Thanks for tuning in to Beijing Bytes. Smash that subscribe button for your next dose of cyber drama. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
View all episodes
By Quiet. PleaseThis is your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates podcast.
Hey listeners, it's Ting! Buckle up for today’s Beijing Bytes, where your favorite tech whisperer wraps up a wild fortnight in the ongoing US-China tech chess match. The weather in Washington is hot and steamy—and the news in cyber and semis is even hotter.
Right out of the gates: a plot twist no one saw coming. July delivered a rare ceasefire in the infamous chip war. After years of exports bans piling higher than my overdue code reviews, the US actually dialed things back. On July 3, President Trump’s administration suddenly lifted a ban on vital chip design software sales to China, undoing a move that rattled EDA goliaths like Synopsys and Cadence. Their stock popped instantly—and for one golden moment, analysts dared to praise a “small ceasefire” between Washington and Beijing. Not to be outdone, the US greenlit Nvidia to resume some advanced AI chip sales to China, just months after a blanket ban choked off the last pipeline. Traders on Wall Street cheered, but Capitol Hill? Far less amused. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, fired off a warning that selling Nvidia’s H20 chips could “provide substantial increase to China’s AI development”—which, translation, means sleepless nights for US national security hawks.
What’s the game here? Simple: negotiation. Beijing responded by softening its rare earth embargo, and the two giants have opened up high-level trade talks. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed, “trade is in a good place,” hinting at more pragmatic—if fragile—tech diplomacy ahead. Yet, don’t get comfy. Deep distrust lingers. Congress is actively debating outbound investment curbs for US money into Chinese AI and semiconductors, and new strategic export controls are popping up among US allies like the Netherlands. Meanwhile in Beijing, the foreign ministry keeps railing against “tech containment,” doubling down on self-reliance and blasting what it calls the “weaponization” of science and technology.
Now let’s click over to cybersecurity—a truly nail-biting few weeks, if you’re running on-prem SharePoint. Microsoft and CISA urgently warned that hackers are exploiting a critical flaw, ToolShell, letting them waltz through SharePoint servers globally. Dozens of government and energy orgs breached, including at least two US federal agencies—ouch. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group spotted attackers planting web shells and yoinking cryptographic secrets. Recommendation: patch yesterday, assume you’re breached, investigate everything. Microsoft also faced flak after journalists revealed that China-based engineers were working on tech used by the US Department of Defense. Frank Shaw from Microsoft hastily declared: no more China-based teams on Pentagon projects, effective immediately.
Meanwhile, across the globe, China-linked hacker group APT41 embarked on fresh cyber espionage campaigns in Africa, leveraging, you guessed it, compromised SharePoint servers. Their malware cleverly avoids activating on systems set to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean—no friendly fire for these pros.
Big picture: Industry is feeling the whiplash. Nvidia expects $15 billion from China this half alone, but new export controls could still bite hard if the rules shift again. Export restrictions help US national security but sap US firm innovation if taken too far—everyone’s walking a tech tightrope.
Expert consensus? We’re in for more seesawing: fleeting détente, then new friction. Policymakers and CEOs alike are balancing innovation, revenue, and risk as China sprints toward indigenous chip design and AI. My bet? The “chip war” takes a summer breather, but the race to rule AI and cyber is only getting started.
Thanks for tuning in to Beijing Bytes. Smash that subscribe button for your next dose of cyber drama. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
Hey listeners, it's Ting! Buckle up for today’s Beijing Bytes, where your favorite tech whisperer wraps up a wild fortnight in the ongoing US-China tech chess match. The weather in Washington is hot and steamy—and the news in cyber and semis is even hotter.
Right out of the gates: a plot twist no one saw coming. July delivered a rare ceasefire in the infamous chip war. After years of exports bans piling higher than my overdue code reviews, the US actually dialed things back. On July 3, President Trump’s administration suddenly lifted a ban on vital chip design software sales to China, undoing a move that rattled EDA goliaths like Synopsys and Cadence. Their stock popped instantly—and for one golden moment, analysts dared to praise a “small ceasefire” between Washington and Beijing. Not to be outdone, the US greenlit Nvidia to resume some advanced AI chip sales to China, just months after a blanket ban choked off the last pipeline. Traders on Wall Street cheered, but Capitol Hill? Far less amused. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on China, fired off a warning that selling Nvidia’s H20 chips could “provide substantial increase to China’s AI development”—which, translation, means sleepless nights for US national security hawks.
What’s the game here? Simple: negotiation. Beijing responded by softening its rare earth embargo, and the two giants have opened up high-level trade talks. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed, “trade is in a good place,” hinting at more pragmatic—if fragile—tech diplomacy ahead. Yet, don’t get comfy. Deep distrust lingers. Congress is actively debating outbound investment curbs for US money into Chinese AI and semiconductors, and new strategic export controls are popping up among US allies like the Netherlands. Meanwhile in Beijing, the foreign ministry keeps railing against “tech containment,” doubling down on self-reliance and blasting what it calls the “weaponization” of science and technology.
Now let’s click over to cybersecurity—a truly nail-biting few weeks, if you’re running on-prem SharePoint. Microsoft and CISA urgently warned that hackers are exploiting a critical flaw, ToolShell, letting them waltz through SharePoint servers globally. Dozens of government and energy orgs breached, including at least two US federal agencies—ouch. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group spotted attackers planting web shells and yoinking cryptographic secrets. Recommendation: patch yesterday, assume you’re breached, investigate everything. Microsoft also faced flak after journalists revealed that China-based engineers were working on tech used by the US Department of Defense. Frank Shaw from Microsoft hastily declared: no more China-based teams on Pentagon projects, effective immediately.
Meanwhile, across the globe, China-linked hacker group APT41 embarked on fresh cyber espionage campaigns in Africa, leveraging, you guessed it, compromised SharePoint servers. Their malware cleverly avoids activating on systems set to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean—no friendly fire for these pros.
Big picture: Industry is feeling the whiplash. Nvidia expects $15 billion from China this half alone, but new export controls could still bite hard if the rules shift again. Export restrictions help US national security but sap US firm innovation if taken too far—everyone’s walking a tech tightrope.
Expert consensus? We’re in for more seesawing: fleeting détente, then new friction. Policymakers and CEOs alike are balancing innovation, revenue, and risk as China sprints toward indigenous chip design and AI. My bet? The “chip war” takes a summer breather, but the race to rule AI and cyber is only getting started.
Thanks for tuning in to Beijing Bytes. Smash that subscribe button for your next dose of cyber drama. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta