“Conflict is growing globally. We’re definitely in a more unstable time than we’ve been really since the Second World War. If we’re on track for a 3°C world, the level of conflict we’ve experienced in the last century is nothing like what we will face - it will be much, much more severe. It’s not just things like fatalities: it’s things like whole countries becoming unlivable spaces, and the knock-on effects on global stability.”

"The past two administrations have taken some extraordinary steps to maintain an edge in both chipmaking and AI, two fields that are inextricably and intricately entwined. The US and its allies have restricted exports of cutting-edge chips and silicon-manufacturing equipment to key geopolitical rivals (aka China). In 2022, the US also passed the CHIPS Act, legislation that will pour $280 billion into bringing more microchip manufacturing back to American soil.

Laurie E. Locascio, undersecretary of standards and technology at the Department of Commerce and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies, helps oversee the government’s chip investments. She tells WIRED that it is crucial to invent new chip designs and manufacturing techniques to ensure the US’s technological preeminence in AI. She adds that chip packaging—the process of combining components in new ways to boost performance—may be especially vital to the next wave of AI." (Wired)