How China will overcome tech trouble
Electronics is one of the industries I cover as a reporter. I still remember the time when even technology experts found it difficult to explain what a chip is, except saying that chips are sophisticated components used in computers and other such devices. So, it's with wonder that I note now that the chip sector is a recurring topic in the public discourse in China.
Starting last year, when Chinese telecom company ZTE was temporarily banned from buying US chips, to this year, when its domestic peer Huawei experienced the same fate, semiconductors repeatedly featured in social media chatter as well as dinner table discussions.
Even my aunt, who owns a vegetable store, recently called me to ask why Chinese companies rely so heavily on their foreign counterparts for chips. I knew she wasn't referring to potato chips. "Why is it that we can make nuclear bombs and can't make globally competitive chips?" She demanded to know.
