ALFA Field Notes

Three Quick Hits

February 14, 2025

Huawei’s Advances

Earlier this month, it was reported that new Huawei GPUs will be “used to support DeepSeek’s R1 large language model.” The implications of this development aren’t just about DeepSeek though. Earlier this year we said a last-minute Biden rule restricting American companies from selling AI chips overseas would hurt America and empower technology companies linked to the CCP, like Huawei.

“The AI chip market is among the most sought-after in the world — and fortunately, American companies are the ones setting the pace. Yet, by taking American products off the playing field, the U.S. risks ceding tech leadership to foreign competitors, especially those backed by the Chinese government.”

If Biden’s new “AI diffusion” regime remains in place, Huwaei’s tech advancements prove the Chinese are more than poised to fill the vacuum. This would be disastrous for American tech and our geopolitical leadership.

New Era of American Manufacturing Leadership

As we said last week, the priorities of a new Congress can be measured by the work its committees take up in the early days. So, when one of the first House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings was on “AI in manufacturing” we can expect a congressional commitment to rebuilding America’s industrial capacity by harnessing our technological innovation.

Sub-Committee Chairman Gus Bilirakis said at the top of the hearing that the “American economy can utilize AI technologies to ensure America’s continued dominance in the field by further streamlining operations and increasing domestic manufacturing.”

The stakes couldn't be higher. While China continues its strategy of intellectual property theft and forced labor to build its industrial base, America is choosing a different path: unleashing innovation, fostering collaboration, and supercharging our manufacturing capabilities through AI and advanced technology.

Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer Arvin Patel offers in a recent piece: “The U.S. government must prioritize American AI as a national initiative, providing strong support to the private sector to foster innovation and ensure global competitiveness. It must also prioritize a strong intellectual property (IP) system, as America cannot win the AI race without strong, reliable, and pro-innovation IP laws that support American founders and businesses.” 

The good news is that the work already being done in Congress and within the Trump administration signals a new era for American manufacturing.

Anduril Takes Over Leadership of Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS)

Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey started his career at the age of 16 when he created his first Oculus VR head set. Now, nearly eleven years after he sold Oculus to Facebook, Luckey and Anduril announced that the leading defense technology company will be taking over the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System contract from Microsoft, which will remain as the preferred cloud service for the project

In his blog, Luckey describes the impact of this program on the warfighter:

“The IVAS program – one of the most important programs to the Army – represents just the beginnings of a new path in human augmentation, one that will allow America’s warfighters to surpass the limitations of human form and cognition, seamlessly teaming enhanced humans with large packs of robotic and biologic teammates.”

The partnership still needs approval by the Army but given Army Secretary Nominee Dan Driscoll’s testimony at his confirmation hearing earlier this year, we suspect this is exactly the innovation our military’s new leadership would welcome. And we hope they do.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

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