Rumors out of Washington these days regarding technology boggle the mind, with the unthinkable sounding more and more possible at a time of intense rhetoric: A ban by the Trump administration on all sales of computer chips by U.S. companies to China. Under legislation known as the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, instituted during the Iranian hostage crisis, the executive branch can place quotas on U.S. goods, and restrict what can be sold, in order to sanction a target country on national security grounds. Computer chips are a tremendous area of leverage for the U.S. on the global...
