Pranay Kotasthane quoted in Radio Free Asia on China’s WTO case against U.S. on semiconductor export controls

Pranay Kotashtane’s (Deputy Director of the Takshashila Institution & Chair, High-Tech Geopolitics Programme) tweets were quoted by Radio Free Asia in their report:

Even so, Pranay Kotasthane, an expert on semiconductor chip geopolitics at the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru, India, said he believed U.S. chip policies had a clear enough national security application to create “limited options” for China at the WTO.

“WTO case is proforma,” Kotasthane wrote on Twitter. “Given that WTO has exceptions for national security concerns, which can be defined broadly, it's unlikely to result in any policy changes.”

WTO disputes can also take years to resolve, by which time the fast-paced chip industry is likely to have moved on to more advanced technology, potentially leaving China struggling to catch up.

“It is clear that the export controls are broad enough to slow down not just Chinese military capabilities but also advancements in its commercial semiconductor sector,” Kotasthane wrote.

Read the full report here.