U.S Representative Andy Barr (R-KY), Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) attend a House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party hearing entitled “The Chinese Communist Party’s Threat to America,” in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Sept 19 (Reuters) – The chair of the U.S. House of Representatives’ committee on China on Tuesday planned to meet with a semiconductor industry group to express concerns over U.S. investments in China’s chip industry, according a source familiar with the matter.
Representative Mike Gallagher, an influential Republican lawmaker whose select committee has pressed the Biden administration to take a tougher stance on sending U.S. technology to China, planned to meet with the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents major chip firms such as Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Intel (INTC.O) whose sales to China have been affected by U.S. export rules, the source said.
Gallagher planned to tell the group he believes that U.S. rules enacted last October that cut off the sale of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China should be tightened to cover less advanced chips, the source said. The source added that Gallagher also aimed to talk with the group about reducing the number of semiconductor manufacturing machines that could be sent to China.
Also among the planned discussion topics is U.S. investment in Chinese chip firms. Intel, Qualcomm (QCOM.O) and other firms have venture capital arms that have invested in Chinese technology companies, the source added.
Gallagher also will express his concerns that a massive Chinese effort to build up capacity to build less advanced chips used in automobiles, washing machines and other everyday products could one day result in China dumping those chips on the U.S. market and drive U.S. makers of such chips out of business, the source said.
A representative for the Semiconductor Industry Association did not immediately return a request for comment.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco
Editing by Nick Zieminski
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NEW DELHI, Oct 31 (Reuters) – A locally developed genetically modified (GM) mustard variety will help India boost crop yields of one of the main oilseeds and cut vegetable oil imports that cost billions of dollars a year, the country’s top agricultural scientists said on Monday.
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), part of India’s environment ministry, last week granted environmental clearance for indigenously developed GM mustard seeds, paving the way for commercial use of the first GM food crop.
After the GEAC permission, scientists will now carry out the last rounds of trials and demonstrations before letting farmers grow the transgenic mustard variety developed by Deepak Pental, a geneticist and former vice-chancellor of Delhi University.
“There are strong indications to suggest that new hybrid varieties will finally raise yields of mustard,” Trilochan Mohapatra, president of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), the top research body of farm scientists, told a news conference.
New hybrid GM seeds could potentially raise mustard yields to 3.0-3.5 tonnes per hectare, he said, up from around 1.3 tonnes now.
Mustard, part of the rapeseed family, has the highest oil content among India’s nine main oilseeds, including soybeans and peanuts, but crop yields have stagnated for years.
India, the world’s biggest edible oil importer, meets more than 70% of its cooking oil demand through imports.
In the fiscal year to March 31, 2022, New Delhi spent a record $18.99 billion to import vegetable oils, prompting Prime Minister to voice concerns about India’s rising vegetable oil import bill.
The GEAC has approved GM mustard seeds after a lengthy, foolproof trial and the new variety is safe for the soil, the environment and human health, said K C Bansal, secretary of NAAS.
Bansal said farmers do not need any herbicide to grow GM mustard seeds and weed killers would only be required at time of seed development. He also said lab-altered GM seeds do not pose any threat to honey bees that flock to mustard flowers for nectar.
Activists have said GM mustard would require widespread use of herbicides and pose a threat to honey bees.
Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; editing by David Evans
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.