The Wrap: China Chip Crackdown; BIS Gets Good Vibes From GAO; End Times for Voyager 1?
Welcome to The Wrap for Monday, December 2!
From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:
?
China Chip Crackdown
The U.S. Department of Commerce today dealt a blow to Chinese efforts to home-grow advanced-node semiconductors – think chips used for AI and military applications – by cementing in place a new package of U.S. export controls overseen by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) that will restrict exports of U.S.-made semiconductor-making equipment and software to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). “This action is the culmination of the Biden-Harris administration’s targeted approach, in concert with our allies and partners, to impair the PRC’s ability to indigenize the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our national security,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a Dec. 2?press release. The new rules include export controls on 24 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and three types of software tools for developing or producing semiconductors. They also include new controls on a kind of chip called “high-bandwidth memory” (HBM) that is typically used in applications requiring high-performance computing such as AI. The Commerce Department also added 140 entities to the “Entity List” – in addition to 14 modifications – restricting companies that are working to advance the PRC’s chip goals. “By adding key semiconductor fabrication facilities, equipment manufacturers, and investment companies to the Entity List, we are directly impeding the PRC’s military modernization, WMD programs, and ability to repress human rights,” said Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department.
?
BIS Wins Praise From GAO
Today marked a rare two-fer for BIS, which in addition to pushing out the new semiconductor export controls also scored a mostly favorable report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) about how the bureau is going about its business on the semiconductor front amid compliance challenges. Most of the time, reports from GAO end up surfacing problems in government operations and recommendations to solve them, so when the watchdog agency that works for Congress takes an 11-month look at a bureau’s operations and finds mostly good things to say, that’s news all by itself. At the heart of GAO’s findings is that BIS has been getting pretty good reviews from industry – those are the companies whose exports are being restricted – for how it addresses their compliance challenges. Please do click through for the whole story.
?
End Times for Voyager 1?
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration ’s Voyager 1, the farthest-traveling spacecraft ever launched by humanity and now some 14 billion miles from Earth in the midst of interstellar space – that means beyond the influence of our sun – is growing increasingly cranky on the technology front 47 years after blasting off from Cape Canaveral in 1977. That’s the latest update from NASA, which ran down the craft’s problems on Nov. 26 including recent fixes that have the Voyager 1 once again communicating properly with us Earthlings. In recent years, Voyager 1 has grappled with a series of technical difficulties, including a major data glitch in 2023 that caused the spacecraft to transmit distorted information back to Earth and eventually go dark. As the spacecraft ventures further into interstellar space, power system issues and communication problems continue to pose concerns, according to a Nov. 26?statement?from the space agency. The most recent problem was a communications blackout that began on Oct. 19 and was sorted out late last month by NASA engineers who are now working on resetting the craft’s system that synchronizes its three onboard computers. Voyager 1’s ultimate sunset date remains a question mark, but factors like increasing physical distance and aging of components are putting the craft’s functional life closer to its conclusion.
?
NSF Tech Training Funding
The National Science Foundation (NSF) ?is putting up $30 million of funding to expand learning opportunities for the U.S. workforce in emerging technology areas including advanced manufacturing, microelectronics, and biotechnology. The agency said on Nov. 27 that its NSF Experiential Learning in Emerging and Novel Technologies (NSF ExLENT) program – a partnership between NSF’s directorates for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) and STEM Education and the Micron Foundation – will offer 35 awards of up to $1 million each. The program seeks to expose both current technology professionals – and also people with little or no tech experience – to emerging tech fields as a way to build up workforce development for those areas.
?
Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we'll bring you more tomorrow. Until then please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, process, and policy. And finally, please hit the news tip jar [with leads, breaking news, or simply your two cents] at [email protected].