The historic trade conflict between China and the US has changed in recent decades by shifting the battlefield into the technology field. The “technological cold war” aims at the continuous development and growth of both countries in the discovery of new technologies and their applications in various sectors such as military, economic and internal security. In particular, China has strengthened its presence in the conflict over the last decade with the aim of proving itself as a leader in cutting-edge sciences and technologies with the Made in China 2025 plan. This dispute, which seems to be only of a technological nature, arises and affects issues such as politics and economy of the respective countries. These, in fact, are based on two different systems and the technological war undermines the economic system of both.
The divergence that started with the debate about 5G infrastructures has evolved over the years, leading to the semiconductor industry being the real protagonist and driving force of the war. This industry necessarily influences new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. These are areas where the two countries can still do research and development. Although China has no influential semiconductor industries in the world, it has asserted its presence in every manufacturing process. This feature contributes to the implementation of the MiC 2025 plan. Although the two powers increasingly want to establish themselves in the technological scene and become the only leaders, overcoming the rival; there remains at least for now a dependence between the two countries with regard to imports, China is trying to reduce this dependence.
Technological competition may prove to be an incentive to research and discovery, but at the same time it may reinforce a view of technological power that becomes threatening to the world. Will either country ever succeed in becoming the sole technology leader? And how will it have an impact on global geography of power?
