China’s Competitive Advantage in Material Science Basic Research and Strategic Chip Innovation

Is the scale of and strategic focus on critical technology innovation, specifically materials science basic research, already an insurmountable competitive advantage for China in the Great Power Competition with the U.S.? Find a discussion of the core issue here.  

Why This Is Important

• Journalist David Goldman recently highlighted the fact that “Huawei is spending several billion dollars a year in basic research on materials science [and] China graduated 80k materials engineers in 2022 vs. about 3400 in the US, so its potential is unmistakable.  China’s semiconductor industry could potentially diverge from silicon…I think it’s highly unlikely that the US can stop China from developing a semiconductor industry.” While American Economist Joseph Stiglitz frames “the underlying problem…that the US did not anticipate a rival such as China. Even without subsidies, China could outcompete just because of the scale of its economy and the number of engineers they have.” 
• “China is seeking self-sufficiency in advanced chips and manufacturing equipment and has made great strides.” 
• “As U.S. export controls have driven Chinese semiconductor manufacturing firms to seek out domestic alternatives across a range of production-related technologies and materials, Beijing’s strategy for assisting the private sector is beginning to take shape, focused on a staged phasing in of domestic production processes that are largely free of Western tools.” 

A New Era for the Chinese Semiconductor Industry: Beijing Responds to Export Controls

“…in the wake of…U.S. export controls, fears have grown within the industry that material exports could also come under pressure.”