While a new U.S. executive order restricting AI, quantum and semiconductor investments in China is alone unlikely to have a significant impact, it is probably only a harbinger of future such restrictions that together could hamper China's technological rise. After many delays, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Aug. 9 that will eventually restrict some overseas investments by U.S. companies into China's technology sector. The regulations are more narrow in scope than the initial proposals and only cover certain investments into China's artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information technologies and semiconductor sectors. Even within those sectors, the restrictions do not cover the entire industry and instead focus on specific sub-technologies, such as investment into AI software for military purposes. For broader investments in those three sectors, as well as a list of other sectors, the mechanism merely sets up a notification process....
