Bill Gates Was Right: U.S. Tech Sanctions Backfired đš
The strategy to "blockade" China has officially hit a wall. Years ago, Bill Gates warned that suppressing China would only accelerate their independence. Looking at the 2024-2025 data, he was spot on.
âInstead of slowing down, the "Eastern Giant" leveled up. Hereâs the reality check:
âHuaweiâs Resilience: Despite massive sanctions, Huawei poured over 1.1 trillion yuan into R&D over a decade. Result? The Mate60 Proâs Kirin chip and HarmonyOS (now 800M+ devices) shattered the "blockade" myth.
âSMIC's Rise: SMIC didn't shrink; it doubled its revenue since 2018, becoming the world's 2nd largest foundry by revenue.
âThe AI Pivot: While the U.S. restricted chips, DeepSeek proved that China could train top-tier AI models (DeepSeek-R1) at a fraction of the cost of Silicon Valley giants.
âEconomic Backfire: NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Intel are feeling the sting. Reports show the U.S. risks losing 18% of its semiconductor market share due to decouplingâSilicon Valley is losing jobs while Chinaâs IC exports surged 17.4% in 2024.
âThe Bottom Line: You can't stop innovation by building walls; you only force your competitor to build their own ladder. China has moved from "import-dependent" to "self-controlled" in record time.
âIs the era of U.S. tech hegemony ending? Letâs discuss below. đ