The U.S. House speaker made a bad situation worse, and China-U.S. relations are headed to a new low. Changes can be seen on multiple fronts, but perhaps most clearly in the military dynamics between the two countries and in the chip-making regime, which has become an important chess piece in the geopolitical game.

Washington wants to build a “small chip world” for itself that is decoupled from global supply chains. This is pure fantasy. The act can neither help the U.S. achieve a secure supply chain nor rejuvenate its domestic chip manufacturing sector. And it won’t slow China down either.

The U.S. secretary of state restated and reinforced the Biden administration’s approach, proposing an “invest, align, compete” strategy for success over China. The speech revealed significant clues about the features of America’s basic strategic game ahead.

A robust semiconductor supply chain without China is out of question, while complimentary China-U.S. cooperation would make the global supply chain both complete and resilient for years to come.

As a technophile, I’ve been reflecting on one of last year’s most trending terms, “Metaverse” and what it portends. I’m an early adapter not a Luddite, nevertheless I’m not impressed, not a believer and not ready to enter an artificial, escapist virtual world of “lying flat 2.0” despite whatever bells, whistles and diversions this Metaverse, as I call it, may offer.

Artificial intelligence’s many applications have the potential to change daily life for people worldwide. It also has the potential to reshape military power in the future. With China and the U.S. locked into a power struggle, this is one area where both sides have great incentive to leapfrog the other.

China is on the cutting-edge of information technology, providing consumer electronics and telecommunications equipment to much of the world. Its own digital infrastructure is due for a modest upgrade that will be rolled out by 2023.

Heightened US-China tensions have raised the prospect of a deep global technology divide, potentially forcing other countries to choose which camp to join. There are plenty of grim scenarios involving irreconcilable splits between core technologies that power a wide range of products and services, from aircraft and automobiles to precision engineering for robotics and payment systems for e-commerce. Should these scenarios materialize, the world’s two largest economies will pour huge amounts of resources into a zero-sum race to control the cutting edge.

The Senate’s high-tech industry proposal marks a change in tone for the nation - no longer appealing to domestic job creation, the bill’s selling point lays bare the motivation to compete with China’s economy.

A recent court case in Hangzhou saw a landmark victory for data privacy and security in China. As facial recognition technology becomes more readily accessible, how will lawmakers across the world react?