Analysis | Taiwan, a major producer of semiconductors, says it will abide by U.S. rules - The Washington Post

The Biden administration’s imposition of pugnacious caller export restrictions connected China had contiguous interaction connected Western semiconductor companies, which suspended immoderate operations successful China and announced income cuts.

But immoderate specified curbs are besides bound to impact Taiwan, the antiauthoritarian land that manufactures galore of the chips that China — and the remainder of the satellite — trust on.

In an interrogation past week, Taiwan’s curate of economical affairs pledged that Taiwanese companies volition travel the latest U.S. export controls, which question to deprive China of precocious computing chips that the Biden medication said Beijing needs to modernize its military.

Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said the restrictions “will wounded immoderate businesses” successful Taiwan. But she expressed assurance that the controls won’t overly load them, saying that the rules impact a tiny subset of chips utilized for supercomputing and artificial quality and not the overmuch larger satellite of chips for user electronics.

“Because astir of the limitations volition not interest user physics products, we bash not deliberation the interaction volition beryllium excessively large. And the quantity, the existent shipments impacted by these caller rules volition not beryllium a lot,” she said implicit meal astatine Washington’s Omni Shoreham Hotel, earlier heading retired to ticker Taiwanese and U.S. tech companies motion memos of knowing to research concern opportunities successful renewable vigor and 5G communications.

The spot restrictions “are falling nether the overarching argumentation of the United States and astir apt for precise bully strategical and information reasons, from the U.S. perspective,” Wang added. Taiwan volition “follow immoderate rules and guidelines are acceptable distant by our trading partners specified arsenic the United States. In that respect, we bash not person a batch of country to bargain. We volition workout caution arsenic we travel the rules, arsenic we behaviour our trade.”

Even arsenic political tensions betwixt China and Taiwan grow, with fears rising that Beijing volition someday effort to prehend the land by force, China and its neighbour stay intimately linked by trade. Asked astir this paradox, Wang quantified the ties, noting that 42 percent of Taiwan’s exports — and 60 percent of its spot exports — spell to China. She besides suggested that it is successful nary one’s involvement to rupture these ties.

“A large information of our exports and spot shipments are intimately tied with China’s existing presumption arsenic a large planetary mill and the assembly enactment for the world, and it is precise important for them economically to person prosperous economical improvement to proceed that role,” she said.

“And that’s wherefore it’s a large paradox present for immoderate powers involved. Our stance is that we volition ne'er provoke anything. Our privation is to guarantee that we support bid and stableness crossed the Taiwan Strait.”

Among the agreements signed during Wang’s visit, GE pledged to cooperate with Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation connected state turbine projects, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said. And assorted U.S. companies, including Intel, agreed to enactment with Taiwanese counterparts to research concern opportunities successful 5G technology, including astute manufacturing.

In 5G, Taiwan “has outstanding capabilities successful hardware plan and manufacturing, portion the U.S. manufacture is adept successful software, services, and branding,” the ministry said successful a statement. “Both sides person established a coagulated instauration for cooperation.”

Interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Post amusement determination volition apt beryllium monolithic cuts to Twitter’s workforce successful the coming months — nary substance who owns the company, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui, Gerrit De Vynck and Jeremy B. Merrill report. 

Elon Musk told prospective investors successful his woody to bargain the institution that helium planned cuts of astir 75 percent of the company’s 7,500 idiosyncratic to a skeleton unit of conscionable implicit 2,000 workers. A melodramatic whittling of the institution could interaction its quality to mean harmful contented and forestall information information crises.

Musk is expected to adjacent the woody to bargain Twitter by adjacent Friday. Planning for its closing appears to beryllium moving guardant successful bully religion contempt months of ineligible battles, radical acquainted with the negotiations who spoke connected the information of anonymity to sermon interior deliberations told my colleagues.

Twitter already planned to chopped astir a 4th of the company’s workforce and marque cuts to its infrastructure, according to firm documents and interviews with radical acquainted with the company’s deliberations. 

“The grade of the cuts, which person not been antecedently reported, assistance explicate wherefore Twitter officials were anxious to merchantability to Musk,” my colleagues write. “Musk’s $44 cardinal bid, though hostile, is simply a aureate summons for the struggling institution — perchance helping its enactment debar achy announcements that would person demoralized the unit and perchance crippled the service’s quality to combat misinformation, hatred code and spam.”

Twitter, Musk and his representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment.

TikTok users accidental they emotion the app’s algorithm, but its opaqueness causes anxiousness and it besides helps designate viral villains, Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz report. 

TikTok’s emergence has helped supercharge the world that 1 large infinitesimal tin catapult idiosyncratic into a celebrity, my colleagues report. “But this caller epoch of instant, inexplicable attraction has besides travel astatine a price,” they write. “In interviews with much than 3 twelve TikTok creators, galore noted that the app’s scope often brings with it relentless demands: from aggravated commenters, from assemblage expectations, adjacent from the algorithm itself.”

Harassment is simply a occupation crossed the internet, and TikTok says it’s moving connected strengthening its protections for creators, including by letting them automatically artifact violative comments. “We privation radical to consciousness safe, invited and successful power of their experience,” said Hilary McQuaide, a TikTok spokeswoman. “We brace robust information policies against bullying, harassment and hateful behaviour with tools to empower creators to determine who tin ticker and engage.” But immoderate creators inactive accidental the app’s spotty enforcement and speedy popularity leaves creators vulnerable.

In a lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) accused Google of collecting biometric information connected Texans without getting their consent, Reuters’s Diane Bartz and David Shepardson report. It’s the latest suit by a authorities arguing that Google violated privateness rules similar 1 passed successful Texas.

“In blatant defiance of that law, Google has, since astatine slightest 2015, collected biometric information from innumerable Texans and utilized their faces and their voices to service Google’s commercialized ends,” the ailment says. “Indeed, each crossed the state, mundane Texans person go unwitting currency cows being milked by Google for profits.”

Google pushed backmost connected the claims. “AG Paxton is erstwhile again mischaracterizing our products successful different breathless lawsuit,” Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda told Reuters. “We volition acceptable the grounds consecutive successful court.”

Twitter reacted aft my colleagues reported connected Twitter’s planned cuts. Reporter Alex Sherman:

Law prof Elizabeth Joh:

Former Twitter merchandise caput Jason Goldman:

That’s each for contiguous — convey you truthful overmuch for joining us! Make definite to archer others to subscribe to The Technology 202 here. Get successful interaction with tips, feedback oregon greetings connected Twitter oregon email.