US and Chinese tech research is decoupling: ASPI’s Critical Tech Tracker | Australia to establish AI safety institute | TSMC files lawsuit against former executive on security concerns

US and Chinese tech research is decoupling: ASPI’s Critical Tech Tracker | Australia to establish AI safety institute | TSMC files lawsuit against former executive on security concerns

Summary

ASPI’s updated Critical Technology Tracker shows a marked decoupling between Chinese and US/allied research ecosystems: collaboration peaked around 2019 and is now receding as policy and security measures take effect. The Tracker has been expanded with 2025 data and ten new technology areas, including generative AI and brain-computer interfaces. Meanwhile, Australia will set up an AI Safety Institute early next year to assess emerging AI risks and protect citizens. Separately, TSMC has sued a former senior executive who moved to Intel, citing contractual, non-compete and trade-secrets concerns.

Key Points

1. ASPI’s data indicates a growing split in critical-technology research between China and the US/allies, with collaboration peaking in 2019 and falling since.
2. The Critical Technology Tracker now covers 2025 data and adds 10 technologies such as generative AI, brain-computer interfaces and geoengineering.
3. Australia will create an Australian AI Safety Institute to evaluate risks from emerging AI systems and guide safeguards for the public.
4. TSMC filed a lawsuit in Taiwan against its ex-SVP Wei-Jen Lo after he joined Intel, alleging breaches of contract, non-compete clauses and trade-secret risks.
5. The broader digest highlights allied moves on sovereign tech, supply-chain resilience, and regulatory efforts (state AI laws in the US, Singapore’s messaging rules, and regional AI partnerships).
6. Commercial and geopolitical pressures are pushing countries toward ‘sovereign AI’ and tighter controls on cross-border research and talent flows.
7. These developments affect industry strategy, research partnerships, investment choices and national security planning around critical tech.

Content Summary

This briefing collects several linked developments. ASPI’s tracker quantifies a trend many policymakers and analysts have noted: research ties between China and Western partners are weakening as export controls, security screening, and national policy responses reshape collaboration. Australia’s institute is a domestic policy response aimed at risk assessment and mitigation for citizens and organisations. The TSMC lawsuit underscores rising corporate and national sensitivity around IP, personnel moves and manufacturing know-how in the semiconductor sector. The digest also aggregates related stories — regulatory moves, industry shifts, and international partnerships — that together illustrate a more fractured global tech landscape.

Context and Relevance

Why it matters: the decoupling story signals a structural change in how advanced technologies will be developed and governed. For researchers, firms and policymakers, the split means greater friction for cross-border teams, changed grant and collaboration calculus, and increased emphasis on domestic capability-building (manufacturing, models, supply chains). Australia’s AI Safety Institute is part of a wider trend of governments combining regulation, capability and oversight to manage AI harms and strategic risk. The TSMC case is a reminder that personnel moves can trigger legal and security responses in tightly contested sectors like semiconductors.

Why should I read this?

Short version: if you care about where AI, chips and critical tech are heading — and who gets to build them — this is worth five minutes. It ties a big-picture shift (research decoupling) to immediate policy and corporate moves (Australia’s new institute, TSMC’s lawsuit). We’ve done the legwork so you can see the trendlines without sifting through ten separate articles.

Source

Source: https://aspicts.substack.com/p/us-and-chinese-tech-research-is-decoupling