AI/ML
The White House has removed high-performance data storage and datacenters from the list of “Critical and Emerging Technologies” which informs a range of Federal policies including export controls and R&D focus.
However, AI, quantum, photonics, cybersecurity and advanced networking technologies are all very much on the list, as are concerns about data transfers that could benefit adversaries.
The switcheroo comes in an update of the US’s National Security Science & Technology Strategy which aims to underpin “the nation’s economic security, science, research, and innovation to support the national security strategy.”
As the overview to the doc explains, it “focuses on S&T competition as it relates to military capabilities, homeland defense and resilience, and other direct intersections with national security.”
And in turn, it informs decisions on where to invest Federal R&D funding, partnerships with commercial organizations and allies/partners, workforce decisions and immigration policy, and how the US controls exports of critical and dual use technology.
The document identifies “potentially transformative technology” including: artificial intelligence and autonomy; biotechnology; and quantum information technologies which could have profound implications for sensing, communications, computing, and information security.
Unsurprisingly, it aims to “keep foreign adversaries out of critical technology systems and supply chains.”
This includes “Prioritizing homeshoring and domestic product development, which the Trump Administration is advancing by promoting balanced trade, facilitating reindustrialization, unleashing energy dominance, advancing novel material substitution for critical components, and working with suppliers from trusted partners.”
It also says “relevant agencies should use available authorities to protect against adversary efforts to access and exploit critical technology systems and supply chains, including communications and networking systems.”
It also calls for modernizing “foreign investment screening and security” and strengthening and streamlining “export controls and data transfer restrictions.”
The strategy includes a list of “critical and emerging technologies” which either are or may become “critically important to US national security.”
Not surprisingly AI and autonomy are spelled out in detail, spanning 12 categories compared to the previous version’s ten. A comparison of the two lists gives a feel for just how much AI has advanced just in the last two years – the word agent didn’t pop up at all last time around.
However, the previous strategy’s advanced computing section has been dropped. This included high-performance data storge and datacenters, as well as advanced cloud services, and data processing and analytic techniques. In fact, the word datacenter doesn’t even come up at all in the new strategy.
However, “data management, including storage and security” is listed under the update's information management and cybersecurity list.
Likewise, the communications and networking list spans future wireless tech, as well as optical and fiber technology, while the future computing technologies list includes photonics, supercomputing, and, of course, brain computer interfaces.
So, does that mean datacenters and storage are no longer critical technologies, worthy of government oversight and control?
Datacenters are certainly critical national infrastructure for the US, its allies and its adversaries. But with key components such as SSDs and RAM becoming critically scare, while the top producers are broadly speaking Western controlled, perhaps Washington is relying on pricing power rather than hard power to maintain control. For now.