A $ 50 billion tech investment plan is under discussion in the United States

A $ 50 billion tech investment plan is under discussion in the United States

Approved in the Senate, the package will now have to return to the House. Bets on chips and artificial intelligence in response to China

(Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin / Getty Images) The US Senate passed, by an overwhelming majority, a bill to increase US microchip production and development technologies for artificial intelligence and other research programs, to cope with China 's growing technological competition. The central element of the measure is the emergency allocation of 50 billion dollars to the Department of Commerce and the increase in spending to 250 billion in the next 5 years for the production of semiconductors.

The Senate has approved the motion with 68 votes in favor and 32 against, a demonstration of how the two parties in Congress are united in the economic challenge against China. This is one of the few votes shared by such a large majority since President Joe Biden's administration entered the White House. Proponents of the bill described it as the largest investment in scientific research ever seen in the country in decades. The goal is to recover the gap in semiconductor production with the East. The national share in production, globally, has fallen from 37% in 1990 to about 12% now and the international shortage of microchips, due to the pandemic, has put various sectors of the US economy at risk, in particular that of cars.

The bill will have to go back to the House, which had approved a different version, for the final ok. The two versions will have to be reconciled into a single law before being sent to the White House for presidential signature. Biden, the New York Times reports, said he was "encouraged" by the passage of the law. "We are in a competition to conquer the twenty-first century - he said -. While other countries continue to invest in research and development, we cannot be left behind. If we do nothing, our days as superpower could end ".

The bill also includes other anti-Chinese provisions, including the ban on downloading the TikTok social network on government devices and to buy drones manufactured by companies backed by the Chinese government; new sanctions against cyber attacks on groups linked to the Dragon; export controls on products that could be used to violate human rights.


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Topics

China Digital business Artificial intelligence Robot United States globalData.fldTopic = " China, Digital business, Artificial intelligence, Robot, United States "

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