The development of artificial intelligence technology in the US is being put at risk due to the country's reliance on Chinese-made components in its data centers.
What happened
Optical transceivers, which enable high-speed data transfer between servers, are a crucial part of data center infrastructure. However, China is the main supplier of these components, with companies such as Innolight and Eoptolink leading the market. According to Johns Hopkins Associate Professor Yury Dvorkin, China supplies approximately two-thirds of global optical transceivers.
This has raised concerns about national security, as China's dominance in the industry could be used for leverage. The US has previously fallen victim to similar tactics, with Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE providing cheap equipment to rural carriers, only for the US to later allocate billions of dollars to remove and replace it.
In response to these concerns, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering a ban on Chinese optical transceivers imports, while bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the Senate to keep these components out of sensitive national security systems. However, these efforts are facing pushback from the tech industry, with major companies and associations advocating against the proposed actions.
