Next Tech War? The China Hardliners in Washington Discover the Topic of Robotics

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Is the "Chip War" now being followed by the "Robot War"? American robotics manufacturers have called for political measures against their Chinese competitors in the US Congress, reported the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

With their appeal to the US Congress, US robotics manufacturers are apparently hoping to persuade parliamentarians and later the White House to take protectionist measures against manufacturers of humanoid robots in China, according to an exclusive report by the South China Morning Post from Washington.

The US has been trying to slow down China's progress in artificial intelligence for several years by boycotting AI chips. For example, the US government has banned the sale of Nvidia's most powerful AI chips to the People's Republic. Washington is also exerting strong pressure on allied countries such as the Netherlands and Japan not to supply China with equipment for the production of such chips, particularly advanced lithography machines.

Now robotics manufacturers in the US are apparently hoping that their government could hinder Chinese competitors in a similar way. "The pace at which China is advancing in humanoid robots is alarming, and the US government should develop coordinated policies and strategies to counter the dominance of Chinese companies in this industry," the newspaper quoted from a hearing before the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, which is part of the Committee on Homeland Security.

An Appeal to the Government

Among those heard was Max Fenkell, manager of the San Francisco-based AI company Scale AI, which works with the US Department of Defense. He expressed concern about the progress made by robots from Chinese manufacturers, including Unitree, which were shown at the New Year's Gala on Chinese television. "The video went viral, not because it was impressive, but because people compared it to the previous year; twelve months ago, when the same robots could barely move through a dance routine," Fenkell said. "This year they're doing karate," Fenkell added. Something like this is only possible because of the "whole-of-government approach" in China, he argued, according to the SCMP.

Matthew Malchano, Vice President of Software at US robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics, also appeared as a witness before the subcommittee. Among other things, he pointed out that at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Chinese companies with humanoid robots outnumbered US companies by a ratio of around five to one.

The US government should "develop measures and strategies to counter the dominance of Chinese companies in this industry", the representatives of the American robotics manufacturers demanded according to the report. Among other things, they recommend "government measures such as investigating national security risks posed by Chinese robot manufacturers, expanding export controls on AI inference chips and a possible ban on federal agencies procuring certain Chinese AI and robotics technologies", the Washington newspaper reported.

Attacking the Lead

Rush Doshi, Director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, sent a written statement to the subcommittee. He wrote that the US "must be able to produce robots on a large scale itself". Another witness called on Congress to "adopt a coordinated national robotics strategy," SCMP reported. It was about "countering China's market dominance".

Against the backdrop of the intense AI race between the US and China, concerns about China's rise in robotics have increased in Washington over the past year, it said. With US industry spokespeople and members of Congress now turning to the issue of national security with reference to humanoid robots, this suggests "that humanoid robots could become a new arena for the intensifying technological rivalry between the US and China", writes the Hong Kong newspaper.

As with the attempts to slow down China's AI capabilities, these new debates over robotics document above all the great uncertainty that China's rapid rise as an increasingly equal competitor is causing in the US. "There is a mixture of admiration and fear about China's industrial policy," Kyle Chan, a fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, told the South China Morning Post. It is possible, however, that the White House will not immediately address the issue, according to some analysts. Donald Trump and his team are currently well occupied elsewhere, they said. (sb)

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