What Sputnik couldn’t do to American science, Beijing has
The US government owns 9.9 per cent of Intel, converted out of US Chips Act grants, alongside a golden share in US Steel, US$400 million in the rare earth mining firm MP Materials and stakes in roughly 30 firms worth US$26.7 billion. In 2025, Nvidia and AMD gave up 15 per cent of their China chip sale revenues in exchange for export licences. The country that spent four decades advising its…
In 2025, the United States owns shares in numerous major companies, including Intel, US Steel, MP Materials, Nvidia, and AMD. This portfolio reflects a shift from state-avoidance to state-capitalism, as the US government acknowledges that technological leadership is a security objective in its own right. The National Security Science and Technology Strategy, unveiled in August 2025, emphasizes avoiding contests where capable adversaries can easily counter US moves and refrains from spending on replicating what rivals have already built better.
Foreign investment, firms, and personnel involved in American research now face tighter scrutiny. Research security has transformed from a compliance chore into a branch of statecraft, with three domains—undersea, space, artificial intelligence, and autonomy—prioritized for battlefield advantage. Agencies are encouraged to align with milestone contracts with competing vendors, expedite clearances, and enable expertise to move between laboratories, firms, and departments at commercial speed.
Universities also follow this architecture through a vetting process. The strategy document's reach extends into American life, steering agencies towards collaborations with competing firms and hastening clearances. The US government has also imposed a new rule on student visas, capping the duration at four years, which could deter top-tier global talent in critical national security fields.
Despite this regulation, the strategy persists, promising talent that the government is turning away. Vetting deters collaborations while money directed at named technologies is withheld from the unnamed. Beijing taught the US that technological leadership is a security objective, not an economic advantage that pays security dividends.
However, the US understands that it cannot command the next transistor into existence; it must instead attract and retain the people who make such discoveries and provide them with the opportunity to work.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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