The US has a new strategy to boost its competitiveness in artificial intelligence. According to Bloomberg News on December 1, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said in an interview that the United States will seek agreements with eight allies, to enhance the supply chain of computer chips and key minerals needed for artificial intelligence technology.
The first step in the operation is reported to be a meeting at the White House on December 12, officials from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Australia will attend. Helberg says there are many reasons to choose these countries, including the fact that some have some of the most important semiconductor companies or significant mineral resources. The meeting will advance agreements in areas such as energy, critical minerals, advanced semiconductor manufacturing, artificial intelligence infrastructure and Transport Logistics.
Bloomberg traces the plan back to President Donald Trump’s actions in his first term. At that time, the U. S. State Department launched the U. S. “Energy Resources Governance Initiative” to protect lithium, cobalt and other key minerals supply chain security. The Biden administration has launched the mineral safety partnership.
Unlike the Biden plan, which involved a dozen core countries, the focus was now on producer countries, Helberg said. He added that Donald Trump’s plans for his first term, which focused on critical minerals before artificial intelligence platforms such as CHATGPT were publicly released, would cover the full spectrum of AI technology rather than just one area.
Helberg, though, framed the initiative with trusted allies as a“U.s.-centric” strategy rather than a reactive response to China. But he added: “It’s clear that right now there is a two-horse race in AI, the US and China.”
Wang Mi Zhou, a researcher with the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told the global times that the U.S. has selected eight allies for cooperation, each of which has its own strengths in related fields, cooperation is complementary and can form a production and supply chain involving all levels of technology. For example, Japan and the Netherlands have a strong lead in semiconductor equipment, South Korea and Singapore are the world’s leading chip makers, and the latter is a global logistics hub. In addition, Mi Zhou believes, these allies also need American security assurances and are vulnerable to American influence to act in concert with them.
However, Mi Zhou believes that the plan is still at the conceptual stage and that it will be very difficult to change the global supply chain based on market rules. Bloomberg also commented that despite U. S. attempts to make multiple efforts, but failed to shake China’s dominant position in the rare earth supply chain. China has more than 90 per cent of the world’s refining capacity for rare earth and permanent magnet materials, the report said, citing International Energy Agency figures.