According to the Guardian, Chinese engineers are developing artificial intelligence chips that can be used in “advanced weapons systems” and they have obtained cutting-edge British technology.
Analysts call Moore Thread and Biren Technology “China’s leading artificial intelligence chip designers”. The chips they develop “can be used to provide artificial intelligence capabilities to further develop weapons of mass destruction and advanced weapons systems” and are therefore subject to U.S. Export restrictions. and high-tech surveillance applications that raise national security concerns.”
However, before being blacklisted by the United States in 2023, the two companies obtained broad licenses from Britain’s Imagination Technologies, one of a handful of companies in the world designing advanced microchips critical to artificial intelligence systems. Considered a gem. UK technology industry.
An Imagination spokesperson said: “At no stage is Imagination (or its owners) considering or implementing transactions with third parties for the purpose of enabling China or any other nation-state to exploit Imagination technology for national or military end-uses.”
While representatives of Imagination confirmed the existence of licenses from Moore Threads and Biren Technology, they denied claims that the company, under the ownership of a Chinese state-backed private equity fund, sought to knowingly transfer its most advanced secrets. to China.
Two former senior Imagination insiders claim the “knowledge transfer program” that comes with the license is so comprehensive that Chinese companies risk learning how to copy Imagination’s expertise. It has been suggested that the information provided means that the imagination may have “already given [the Chinese companies] manufacturing technology capabilities.”
Two insiders left the company before the knowledge transfer program was fully implemented. Representatives from Imagination said the projects strictly limited the amount of its expertise that could be transferred to China and that such arrangements were common in the industry.
The allegations involving Imagination underscore the tension between doing business with the world’s second-largest economy and safeguarding national security as Xi Jinping’s authoritarian regime seeks to acquire technological prowess befitting a superpower.
Imagination engineers weave billions of transistors together at its headquarters in the Hertfordshire village to design and license them to manufacturers that make chips ranging from cars to iPhones. It focuses on graphics processing units (GPUs), which were developed for generating flowing images in video games but have proven to be well-suited for the complex operations required for artificial intelligence. Imagination’s designs are used in 13 billion devices.
The spokesperson said Imagination “always complies with applicable export and trade compliance laws.” They said the focus of its licensing agreement is to “enable our customers to design systems” for the “consumer electronics, automotive and PC markets.”
Imagination is understood to believe its technology does not meet performance thresholds for military applications and insists its contract prohibits military use. But Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert at the University of Surrey, said it would be difficult for companies like Imagination to ensure their expertise did not end up contributing to applications such as self-aiming drones, the hottest area of weapons research one.
Since 2020, at least three Chinese companies have obtained so-called “architectural licenses” to use Imagination chip designs. Since these licenses allow customers to request modifications to the design, Imagination revealed some of the process by which its engineers arrive – after multiple reviews. years – on a complex blueprint.
Imagination is aware of the risks of sharing too much intellectual property. The company has worked closely with Apple for years: Imagination’s chip designs helped make the iPhone possible. But in 2017, Apple announced that it would start designing its own chips. Imagination accused Apple of using its expertise without authorization. The two parties reached an agreement on a new deal worth $330 million to license Imagination products to Apple.
Two former Imagination insiders interviewed by the Guardian believe building consents awarded to Chinese companies could be exploited in the same way – to steal Imagination secrets.
Theresa May’s Conservative government made a mistake by allowing Chinese state-funded private equity firm Canyon Bridge to buy Imagination in 2017, one person said.
The acquisition comes after the United States blocked Canyon Bridge’s $1.3 billion acquisition of U.S. chipmaker Lattice, citing “the Chinese government’s role in supporting the deal” that posed a risk to U.S. national security. In the UK, where May hopes to “strengthen the golden era of UK-China relations”, Canyon Bridge encountered no such obstacles and an $800 million deal was completed.
The Chinese-backed buyer gave assurances to the British government about Imagination’s future, including that chip designers would not be moved abroad. They named veteran tech executive Ron Black as Imagination’s new boss. He later told an employment tribunal that he was increasingly concerned that the state investment agency China State Reform, which financed the Canyon Bridge acquisition, wanted to “steal technology”.
In 2020, Black opposed plans to appoint four Chinese reform representatives to the company’s board of directors. He said in a witness statement that he expressed “my concerns about Imagination being controlled by the Chinese government” to Ian Levy, then technical director of GCHQ, the UK’s electronic intelligence agency. Levy replied that “it will be a problem for the British government”.
Imagination’s owners dropped the appointment after then Conservative minister Oliver Dowden, who was responsible for digital, sent a letter “seeking assurances about the commitments Canyon Bridge made in 2017 regarding the company’s management, staff and UK base” Chinese directors’ plans. Still standing”.
Black left the company. An employment tribunal this month reportedly found that Black had been willing to support Imagination in licensing some of its more basic technology in China, but he was sacked for reporting an attempt to bring the company under Chinese control.
A former Imagination insider said that after Black’s departure and the failure to appoint Chinese directors, “the strategy seemed clear to transfer technology to Chinese companies”. Imagination representatives disputed this.
“Each license comes with a multi-million dollar deal to teach them how to [intellectual property] How it is designed and how the design can be modified. The former insider said this was described as a “knowledge transfer program” on Imagination’s “unique expertise built over many years.”
Under the plan, Imagination’s top engineers will give their Chinese counterparts a “step-by-step understanding of how to develop a GPU” over two years, starting around 2021, the former insider said. All delivered.
A second former insider also left before Chinese engineers were fully trained, but said it was “hard to deny that” [technology transfer] is an obvious consequence of obtaining building consent in this manner”.
It is understood that Imagination considers the arrangement with the Chinese client to be “entirely normal” and “restricted in terms of scope, duration and access rights”.
Imagination is understood to be heavily reliant on U.S. revenue, such as Apple’s, and the company’s policy is not to do business with any company on Washington’s “entity list” subject to export restrictions. This means it has now terminated licenses issued to two Chinese companies added to the list in October 2023.
A new report from research group UK-China Transparency raises further questions about Chinese companies.
Moore Threads was founded by the former Chinese boss of US chipmaker Nvidia and claims to have developed the first batch of “Chinese local” GPUs. But a report in the business media said that “critical parts” of the chips were taken from Imagination. One industry analyst said one of the company’s GPUs uses Imagination technology, writing: “Moore Threads has not been very forthcoming about this.”
Another Chinese chipmaker, Biren Technology, produces GPUs for artificial intelligence systems. In addition to Chinese state finances, Biron has received funding from the Russia-China Investment Fund, which is part of Beijing’s deepening alliance with Moscow. Moore Threads and Biren did not respond to requests for comment.
