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Reliance on Taiwan Chipmaker Puts US Economy at Risk Amid China Tensions_我的网站

A |     你可能知道冬虫夏草是“僵尸真菌”--这是有道理的。它的名字来自希腊语和拉丁语，意思是 “棒头”，许多自然纪录片都关注它感染某些昆虫的能力，最有名的是蚂蚁，并真正地“劫持”它们的身体。    Tensions between China and Taiwan boiled over last week after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ignored Beijing’s warnings and visited Taipei. Beijing reacted by launching large-scale military exercises, which disrupted global supply chains, as the foreign ministry warned that Taiwan’s reunification with China was historically inevitable.,The US does not officially recognize Taiwan’s independence, and supposedly embraces a "One China" policy, but Washington’s diplomatic relations and arms sales to the island have been condemned by Beijing for years. US lawmakers, adding fuel to the fire ignited by Pelosi, have been working on legislation that would provide Taiwan with $4.5 billion in security aid in addition to granting the island non-NATO ally status.,Four days before Pelosi’s trip, Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a phone call warned President Joe Biden that the US was "playing with fire," and now was not the time for a full-blown crisis over Taiwan.,In light of the current over-reliance on Taiwan, many companies within several sectors of the US economy would likely agree with Xi.,In a bid to reduce dependence on the island, the US government will be investing billions on projects to develop domestic semiconductor capabilities. However, former senior US diplomat Chas Freeman believes China may be better positioned in the long run to penetrate this highly-concentrated market in the race for microchip self-sufficiency.,"The United States still has the capacity and resources to out-compete China but it still has not done so," Freeman, who was President Richard Nixon’s translator during his 1972 visit to Beijing, told Sputnik. "On the contrary, 19 of the world’s 20th fastest growing semiconductor companies are now in mainland China and none are in the United States.",US Vulnerabilities Run Abroad and Deep,Last year, the US economy lost $240 billion due to the global microchip shortage, and a war over Taiwan would be even more devastating for the United States due to its dependence on one single supplier: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip foundry.,TSMC accounted for more than half of the $100 billion semiconductor manufacturing market in 2021, and makes more than 90% of the world’s most advanced microchips, according to the Capital Economics research group. And the company’s market share is only likely to expand. TSMC executives in a July earnings call projected 30% growth this year, which would put total annual revenue well over $70 billion.,American tech giants like Apple, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, AMD, and Broadcom, all rely on TSMC, while the US government depends on the Taiwanese supplier for some of the most critical and complex systems.,The Energy Department’s Argonne National Laboratory, a byproduct of the Manhattan project, for example, is building a national security supercomputer using TSMC because Intel was forced to delay production.,US-China Tensions Over TaiwanPelosi Meets Chair of World’s Largest Chipmaker in Taiwan Amid Increasing US-Chinese Tensions3 August, 11:41 GMT,Moreover, TSMC makes semiconductors for high-end weapons systems and a wide range of military-grade devices, a major factor in the US pressuring TSMC to move production to America’s shores, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a June report.,The Biden administration in a supply chain review last summer even conceded that the United States is too heavily dependent on TSMC for producing America’s leading-edge semiconductors - a reality that led to the recently-passed CHIPS Act, signed by Biden on Monday, which provides more than $52 billion in subsidies for domestic manufacturers.,In July, former director of cybersecurity for the White House National Security Council, Zach Nunn, described the semiconductor shortage and lack of capacity as a "direct threat to America’s economy and national security.",Although Biden failed to prevent Pelosi's visit, he is apparently well aware of America’s vulnerabilities. The president stopped short of opposing the House Speaker publicly, but behind the scenes senior White House officials were dispatched to dissuade Pelosi from going, Bloomberg reported, and to halt the new bill that would provide billions in military aid to Taiwan.,Chip Race With China,Some experts have suggested China has shown restraint in punishing Taiwan economically because it could backfire. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu, who met Pelosi during her visit, told CNN Beijing will "think twice" about invading because China’s most advanced systems rely on his firm’s semiconductors. An invasion, Liu added, would render his company "not operable.",Part of the reason TSMC has an advantage is a near monopoly on the skill set needed to develop certain advanced microchips. This has been exacerbated by a global high-tech talent shortage amid soaring demand for software skills needed to program and integrate chips into fast-growing markets such as electric vehicles and robotics, according to a 2022 Deloitte industry outlook.,The US Chips Act allocates funding to develop these types of skills while Beijing has focused on enhancing such capabilities as part of the $1.4 trillion high tech investment plan it unveiled in 2020.,China Slams US Attempt to Ban Dutch Sales of Chipmaking Equipment6 July, 14:23 GMT,Although China today accounts for only 15% of global manufacturing in semiconductors, its chip companies are rapidly growing. Meanwhile, the US share of the market has dropped from 37% to 12%.,Freeman, who chairs an international business development firm, said Beijing’s aspirations go beyond simply developing manufacturing capabilities.,"The US still leads in chip design but China is also closing that gap rapidly and is already only a year or two behind us," Freeman said.,China, which currently produces one-third of global manufacturing, Freeman added, has the talent and skills to eventually take the lead in many technology and science-related sectors.,Freeman pointed out that Chinese universities produce four times as many students as the United States in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) - and the gap is widening.,"Many examples from history refute the complacent American assumption that only private companies in liberal democracies with free speech on political matters can be inventive," Freeman said. "History proves that myth is wrong. China is proving it is wrong again today."。冬虫夏草与这些蚂蚁一起进化，并使它们成为其繁殖周期中令人震惊的复杂和可怕的一部分。我们大多数人通常不会认为真菌特别聪明，但虫草真菌是一个极好的窗口，让我们了解到我们对真菌的了解有多少。当一个Ophiocordyceps unilateralis孢子感染一只蚂蚁时，它开始在蚂蚁的血液中旅行，繁殖。

B | 不久之后，这些单个细胞开始协同工作，通过管状的菌丝突起连接起来，开始交流和分享营养。然后，这些真菌菌丝开始扩散到蚂蚁的肌肉中，穿透并包围了蚂蚁全身的肌肉纤维，但有一个明显的例外。与科幻小说中的僵尸不同，虫草真菌通常让蚂蚁的大脑完全不受影响。相反，作为一个超级有机体，真菌网络开始扼杀蚂蚁的运动神经元，直到蚂蚁完全完整的大脑或多或少地与它的身体完全隔离。如果到目前为止，这个过程听起来令人难以置信，那么接下来发生的事情则令人感到恐惧。真菌接管了蚂蚁的身体，并开始"驾驶"它，就像你或我驾驶一辆汽车一样。蚂蚁的运动系统相对简单，而虫草真菌在漫长的岁月中已经学会了如何操作这些腿。这本身就是一个惊人的壮举，但真菌也清楚地知道它希望其宿主下一步去哪里。它驱使蚂蚁找到一个垂直的植物嫩枝或树干来攀爬，靠近蚂蚁的巢穴。它驱使蚂蚁在植物上爬行约25厘米（10英寸），那里的温度和湿度最适合。它促使蚂蚁咬住一片叶子的中心茎，把它的下巴锁死，并决定蚂蚁的最后安息之地。我们无法知道蚂蚁孤立的大脑在这个过程中经历了什么，但在未来几周内，它的身体将被虫草真菌吞噬，它的头部将爆发出真菌的生殖器官，迸发出一个突起，最终扑灭一批新的真菌孢子，它们从离蚁巢不远的完美高度轻轻地飘落到森林地面，准备感染新的受害者。

C | 这种由蚂蚁操纵的生物体所表现出的可怕的真菌智慧，成为纪录片和科幻小说的杰出素材。然而，许多人没有意识到，这只是虫草真菌的一个特别可怕的物种。研究人员知道还有750多种虫草真菌，每种虫草真菌的生命周期都围绕着一个特定的宿主--通常是昆虫幼虫--进行，其过程与上述的过程一样精细。许多西方国家的人也没有意识到，某些类型的虫草真菌--特别是冬虫夏草和蛹虫草--是许多东方医药传统中的顶级保健品，在那里它们被用于治疗疲劳、肾脏疾病、性欲低下、呼吸系统问题、高血糖和一系列其他疾病已经有几个世纪了。对于这些真菌及其成分化学品在动物和实验室模型中的影响，已经做了一定的科学研究，一些结果当然看起来很有希望。2021年《药理学前沿》杂志对同行评审的研究进行了回顾：“它的提取物和生物活性成分已经与细胞因子的产生有关，如白细胞介素和肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α，免疫细胞的吞噬刺激，通过增加诱导性一氧化氮合成酶的活性产生一氧化氮，以及通过丝裂原激活蛋白激酶的途径刺激炎症反应。其他药理活动，如抗氧化、抗癌、抗高脂血症、抗糖尿病、抗疲劳、抗衰老、低胆固醇、降血压、血管舒张、抗抑郁、壮阳和保护肾脏等，在临床前研究中都有报道。”冬虫夏草作为一种健康、能量、免疫力和耐力的补充剂而受到欢迎，再加上其复杂的繁殖过程依赖于其他生物体，使得冬虫夏草的价格非常昂贵。

D | 虽然实验室培育的"素食"冬虫夏草CS-4提取物作为负担得起的（而且基本上不受管制）保健品在市场上广泛销售，但这些通常是在发酵的米粒上生长。据韩国忠北大学的研究人员称，问题是把冬虫夏草放在这种素食中会导致产品变差，其中一种叫做虫草素的关键生物活性化合物的含量特别低，研究人员认为这是重要的"治疗"成分。

E | 因此，研究小组开始调查，在实验室里用昆虫而不是大米作为基质培育冬虫夏草菌株，是否会提高其有用的虫草素水平。研究小组收集了六种不同的市售干昆虫，它们在韩国都被批准作为食品出售：蟋蟀、蚕蛹、黄粉虫、蚱蜢、白星花金龟幼虫和日本犀牛甲虫，并以糙米作为对照。然后，他们在上面培养了两个月的冬虫夏草，收获了真菌的子实体，并分析了每种类型的冬虫夏草素的产生量。结果大相径庭，但所有以昆虫为基础的真菌产生的虫草素都比用大米喂养的多得多。表现最差的昆虫，即蚕蛹，产生的虫草素约为大米的三倍。表现最好的是日本犀牛甲虫，产生的虫草素是大米的100倍左右。研究人员设法将主要因素缩小到昆虫的脂肪含量--特别是它们的油酸水平。当油酸被添加到蚕蛹中时，它将虫草素的生产提高了50%，令人印象深刻。

F | 描述这项工作的新研究论文的高级作者Lee博士说：“这项研究中建议的冬虫夏草栽培方法将使虫草素的生产更加有效和经济。然而，确保可食用昆虫还不足以扩大到工业水平。人们还认为，通过使用其他昆虫可能会有更有效的生产，这需要通过进一步的研究加以证明。”该研究发表在同行评议的《微生物学前沿》杂志上。

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