America’s Strategic Blind Spot in the Global Chip Race

In September 2023, a Chinese military institute quietly filed a patent for a high-performance computer chip built on an open-source design. It’s a stark reminder of Beijing’s relentless pursuit of a homegrown chip renaissance regardless of Washington’s attempts to restrict China’s access to advanced technology and semiconductors. The chip’s blueprint came from RISC-V, an open-source architecture born out of American innovation that is now central to China’s plan for sidestepping U.S. technology controls.

For years, policymakers on both sides of the aisle have worked to block China from obtaining cutting-edge chips. Both the Trump and Biden administrations imposed export bans to deny Beijing the most advanced chips. Yet, those efforts left open a huge loophole: open-source chip designs like RISC-V that Chinese companies use to circumvent regulatory levers. 

RISC-V, the most significant open-source architecture, was first developed at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2010 and is open for anyone to use or modify — unlike proprietary and licensed intellectual property that is licensed out. While open-source architecture might be beneficial in academia, it’s also potentially providing Beijing a one-way ticket to semiconductor independence.

The Trump administration’s recent AI Action Plan embraced open-source technology as a way for the U.S. to lead in innovation. But openness without guardrails is a risk.