Tech trio vs. China

The U.S., EU and Japan team up . . .

At the International Symposium on Quantum Technology in Kyoto this week, the U.S., Japan and the EU committed to collaborate on research and development (R&D) of quantum sensors and computers. The alliance promises to attract significant private sector investment and to increase the exchange of expert researchers. Quantum computing will increase the speed of information processing and provide even more secure encryption for communications. Although still a nascent technology, it has the potential to spur further innovation and to increase the capacity of next-generation data-driven technologies such as machine learning.

Alliance of the like-minded . . .

Co-operation among the U.S., EU, and Japan is in line with their domestic agendas and foreign policy goals. Both the U.S. and the EU have been investing heavily in quantum technology with both public and private funds. The U.S. leads thanks to Google’s advanced research, a recent example being the Sycamore quantum processor solving a mathematical problem that would take traditional supercomputers 10,000 years to solve. This year, Japan unveiled a 20-year plan to catch up to both its allies and develop quantum computers for a variety of uses by 2039. The alliance is seen as another strategy to maintain their collective advantage in cutting-edge technology and provide a balance to China’s meteoric technology advances.

China out of the loop . . .

The Washington-based think-tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS) considers alliances on advanced technologies such as quantum computing key to securing U.S. supremacy in artificial intelligence (AI). CNAS’s policy blueprint emphasizes the need to partner with like-minded countries on future technologies and assumes that countries like Canada will support the U.S.’s lead. However, alliances and technology policies that Chinese leaders see as anti-China may incentivize the Middle Kingdom to more rapidly indigenize its tech component production. While China already plans to produce 70 per cent of the semiconductors it requires by 2025, its AI sector remains restrained by chip imports, talent shortfalls, and lagging cutting-edge research.

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