Trump signs AI pledge with tech giants as Taiwan sits at the center of a US-China tech cold war
Trump has signed a voluntary AI standards pact with major tech companies and ruled out working with China on AI governance — a setup that puts Taiwan in a powerful but dangerous position.
- Tech company bosses signed what's being called an "AI constitution," promising to build their own safety standards.
- Trump said he does not plan to cooperate with China on how AI gets governed, even though Washington and Beijing agreed to set up an AI dialogue.
- Taiwanese lawmaker Li Yen-hsiu warns AI arms-control talks will be harder than old nuclear arms talks, because AI touches business and daily life, not just defense — and neither side trusts the other.
- Nuclear weapons needed uranium and huge state budgets; AI sits with a handful of tech firms and can spread worldwide from a lab in days.
- Advanced chips are the new nuclear fuel, which makes Taiwan's grip on the chip supply chain the deciding factor — and a target.
Outlook: Expect both Washington and Beijing to tighten their own internal AI controls rather than strike any real deal, leaving Taiwan's chip industry as the main pressure point.