US Businesses Urge White House to Counter China in Quantum & AI

(TheEpochTimes) Dario Gil, IBM’s head of research, explained at the first 2020 meeting of The President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) that “today, the U.S. is a global leader in quantum research, but there is a race underway.” China is believed to be spending large sums on quantum research in its bid to dominate the field.
Achieving quantum superiority in the United States “is the most impactful activity that industry must take to lead the world.” Over the next five years, multibillion-dollar levels of investment must be made, Gil said.
In the wake of a number of cases in which researchers in the United States have been fired or arrested for allegedly secret work for China while simultaneously using U.S. federal money for research at American universities, PCAST Chairman Kelvin Droegemeier has been focusing on protecting U.S. research enterprise from exploitation by adversarial foreign countries.
At the same time that China is investing huge amounts to achieve dominance in critical strength-determining technologies, the United States has fallen behind in educating its domestic workforce in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), council members cautioned.