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August 23, 2025
 

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Mackenzie Hawkins
An Nvidia Quantum-X800 InfiniBand Platform on display in Taipei on June 5
WORLD / Politics
Sep 6, 2024
U.S. targets China with quantum and chip-related export curbs
The rules cover all worldwide exports, but include exemptions for countries that implement similar measures.
The U.S. has been pressuring Japan to impose additional restrictions on the ability of firms to sell advanced chipmaking tools to China, as part of a long-running campaign to curtail China’s semiconductor progress.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024
China warns Japan of retaliation over potential new chip curbs
One major concern is that Beijing could cut off Japan’s access to critical minerals that are essential for automotive production.
A Samsung HBM chip
WORLD / Politics
Aug 1, 2024
U.S. weighs restrictions on China’s access to AI memory chips
The new restrictions are likely to be unveiled as soon as late August as part of a broader package that also includes sanctions against over 120 Chinese firms.
U.S. President Joe Biden touts the economic benefits of semiconductor investment at Intel’s Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 13, 2024
Global chips battle intensifies with $81 billion subsidy surge
The rush of funding has hardened battle lines in the U.S.-China trade war, including in nations like Japan.
Attendees stand on an escalator in the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 25, 2016.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
Saudi Arabia AI fund would divest from China if U.S. asked, CEO says
U.S. officials have apparently told their Saudi Arabian counterparts that they need to choose between Chinese and American technology.
The TSMC plant in Phoenix, Arizona. The chipmaker's projects in Arizona have become increasingly entwined with U.S. President Joe Biden’s campaign message on revitalizing the economy.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 9, 2024
TSMC gets $11.6 billion in U.S. grants and loans for chip plants
TSMC’s projects in Arizona have become increasingly entwined with Biden’s campaign message on revitalizing the economy.
People visit the Huawei stand at the 2024 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2024
U.S. weighs sanctioning Huawei’s secretive Chinese chip network
Any move would come after the Chinese telecom giant notched a significant technological breakthrough last year.
Lauded in China as a major leap in indigenous semiconductor fabrication, last year’s SMIC-made processor powered Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro and a wave of patriotic smartphone-buying in the Asian country.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024
Huawei chip breakthrough used tech from two U.S. gear suppliers
The report suggests that China still cannot entirely replace certain foreign components and equipment required for cutting-edge products.
A chip taken from a smartphone. The U.S. is urging the Netherlands to stop ASML from servicing and repairing sensitive chipmaking equipment that Chinese clients purchased before limits on sales of those devices were put into place this year.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 7, 2024
U.S. urges allies to squeeze China further on chip technology
Washington's latest push is partly aimed at plugging holes in export controls it has levied over the past two years.
The logo of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices is seen on a graphics processing unit chip in this illustration
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 5, 2024
AMD hits U.S. roadblock in selling AI chip tailored for China
AMD had hoped to gain a green light from the Commerce Department to sell the AI processor to Chinese customers.
Copies of the Apple Daily newspaper, published by Next Digital Ltd., at the company's printing facility in Hong Kong on Nov. 5, 2020.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2024
In Trump-Biden rematch, the only sure loser is China
Trump’s rhetoric may pressure Biden to take harsher measures in the run-up to election day — bad news for China’s economy and slumping stock market.
The Microsoft logo hangs beside an illuminated iCloud icon at the CeBIT 2017 tech fair in Hannover, Germany.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 30, 2024
U.S. wants cloud firms to flag foreign users in China AI race
The White House proposal, released Monday, requires the firms to reveal foreign customers’ names and IP addresses.
An employee inspects integrated circuit boards at a factory in Suzhou, China.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2023
U.S. to scrutinize Chinese chipmakers as Biden mulls tariffs
Over 100 companies in various sectors to be surveyed on their procurement and use of legacy chips
Up until very recently, the business of packaging semiconductors — encasing chips in materials that both protect them and connect them to the electronic device they’re part of — was, at best, an afterthought for the industry.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 22, 2023
A new front is opening up in the U.S.-China conflict over chips
The process of packaging semiconductors is increasingly seen as the "secret sauce" — a path toward achieving higher performance.
Washington is taking steps to prevent U.S. chipmakers from circumventing government rules in order to sell to China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2023
U.S. to tighten rules aimed at keeping advanced chips out of China
The Biden administration is aiming to close loopholes that might help its geopolitical rival gain cutting-edge technologies.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy speaks at the Capitol after he was ousted as speaker of the House, in Washington on Tuesday. The ouster is without precedent in modern U.S. history and leaves the chamber without a leader, plunging it into chaos.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023
U.S. House speaker ouster means more chaos as shutdown fight looms
Kevin McCarthy lost his post after hardliners in his party revolted over his compromise with Democrats to avert government shutdown.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2023
Taiwan is pushing Biden for a tax deal that could infuriate China
Taiwanese officials are pushing hard for an agreement to eliminate the burden of double taxation, but the U.S. can't sign a treaty to do so amid concerns of angering Beijing.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 10, 2023
Long COVID may be to blame for surge in women with disabilities
Women are disproportionately affected by long COVID, a health condition that is still little understood and can be debilitating.
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Atsushi Kitagawara’s exhibition finds poetry in architecture
The inverted cone, one of Atsushi Kitagawara’s six signature elements in architecture, is a key feature of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum building.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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