Tech Diplomacy Now: Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue Convenes Inaugural Trusted Tech Showcase with Panama
Krach Institute launches Panama Trusted Tech Showcase, linking government and industry to drive AI projects, deals, and partnerships.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tech Diplomacy Updates
Top News of the Week
Latest News
Technology Strategy and Policy
Artificial Intelligence
Telecommunications Networks and Infrastructure
Critical Minerals
Synthetic Biology
Quantum
Robotics
Advanced Aerospace Technology
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
Energy and Climate
Opinion and Commentary
The Last Word
Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue Convenes Inaugural Trusted Tech Showcase with Panama
The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, in partnership with Panama’s National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT), convened senior policymakers and business executives on April 22, 2026, for its inaugural Trusted Tech Showcase: Panama Day – a focused effort designed to accelerate trusted technology partnerships grounded in democratic values and unlock real-world infrastructure opportunities.
Freedom vs. Control: Trusted Technology Is the West’s Best Weapon — Op-ed and White Paper
Roberto Baldoni, Janice deGarmo, and Len Khodorkovsky illuminate how trusted tech helps democracies counter control by aligning standards, supply chains and alliances to scale freedom.
New Republic of Korea Trusted Tech & Trade Fellow
The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University is pleased to welcome Kayla Orta as our new Republic of Korea (ROK) Trusted Tech & Trade Fellow.
The fellowship builds on Purdue University’s growing partnership with the ROK, including collaboration on global industrial technology cooperation programs.
Top News of the Week – The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Makes a Big Push to Strengthen Export Controls
The U.S. House committee that oversees export controls is considering the largest package export control bills in over a decade, mostly looking to restrict advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence technology to China. This represents a broad rejection of lobbying done by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company.
Key points:
House Republicans have brought forward 14 bills including increasing the penalties for violations and extending the statute of limitations to bring additional cases against companies selling advanced technology to China and other adversaries.
The Stop Stealing Our Chips Act would introduce a whistleblower incentive program that would reward individuals who report on violations of export controls similar to the SEC’s whistleblower program for insider trading.
A number of the bills would expand resources for the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security as well as enable the State Department, the Defense Department and the Energy Department to directly propose export control concepts to get around roadblocks in the Commerce Department.
More on Background:
The National Security Case for Limiting China’s Access to Advanced U.S. Compute: Evidence from PLA Procurement Documents – Emerging Technology Observatory, April 20, 2026
Strengthening Export Controls: A Critical National Security Priority for Congress – AEI, April 16, 2026
House Panel to Hold ‘Comprehensive’ Markup of Export Control Bills – Export Compliance Daily, April 15, 2026
Trump’s AI Chip Export Push Stymied by Bureaucratic Bottleneck – Bloomberg, April 10, 2026
Senators Kim and Ricketts Introduce MATCH Act to Level the Global Playing Field for U.S. Tech – Senator Andy Kim, April 2, 2026
Shreve Introduces Legislation to Protect Critical U.S. Technologies From China – Representative Jefferson Shreve, January 9, 2026
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang talks chip restrictions with Trump, blasts state-by-state AI regulations – CNBC, December 3, 2026
STRIDE Act – Representative Bill Hulzenga, November 17, 2025
Latest News
Pentagon Approaches Automakers, Manufacturers to Boost Weapons Production – WSJ, April 15, 2026
U.S. Intelligence Shows China Taking a More Active Role in Iran War – NYTs, April 11, 2026
The Era of Free Seas Is Unraveling—and Now Everyone’s Going to Pay – WSJ, April 10, 2026
DOD officially launches new Economic Defense Unit to mesh military aims with global financial sway – DefenseScoop, April 10, 2026
Trump administration plans to cut cybersecurity agency’s budget by $700 million – TechCrunch, April 7, 2026
Technology Strategy and Policy
Philippines, US to build industrial hub to strengthen supply chain security – Reuters, April 16, 2026
China Shock 2.0 Shakes Global Advanced Manufacturing – Chosun, April 16, 2026
Federal agencies skirt Trump’s Anthropic ban to test its advanced AI model – Politico, April 14, 2026
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Unite to Combat Model Copying in China – Bloomberg, April 6, 2026
Artificial Intelligence
Philippines, US to build industrial hub to strengthen supply chain security – Reuters, April 16, 2026
China Shock 2.0 Shakes Global Advanced Manufacturing – Chosun, April 16, 2026
Federal agencies skirt Trump’s Anthropic ban to test its advanced AI model – Politico, April 14, 2026
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Unite to Combat Model Copying in China – Bloomberg, April 6, 2026
Telecommunications Networks and Infrastructure
Here’s how cyber heavyweights in the US and UK are dealing with Claude Mythos – CyberScoop, April 13, 2026
New Internet of Things Plan Targets Global Infrastructure – Jamestown Foundation, April 10, 2026
Inside the Race to Protect Submarine Cables from Sabotage – WSJ, April 9, 2026
Iran-Linked Hackers Are Sabotaging US Energy and Water Infrastructure – Wired, April 7, 2026
Critical Minerals
Critical Metals stock surges after taking full control of Greenland rare earth project – Mining.com, April 17, 2026
Rare Earths Americas announces IPO – Mining.com, April 14, 2026
EU Launches Operations Critical Minerals Procurement Platform – Reuters, April 13, 2026
Australia and US boost support critical minerals with $3.5 billion – Reuters, April 12, 2026
Sumitomo Electric to boost tungsten output 50%, reducing China dependence – Nikkei Asia, April 10, 2026
Synthetic Biology
China Is Now a Global Drug Innovation Powerhouse. Industrial Policy Had Little to Do with It. – SCCEI, April 15, 2026
How Big Pharma’s China Trials Are Escaping Scrutiny – The Wire China, April 12, 2026
Big Pharma Is Turning to China for the Newest Drug Ideas – WSJ, April 10, 2026
Quantum
We might finally know how to use quantum computers to boost AI – New Scientist, April 20, 2026
Researchers Use Quantum Computer to Improve AI Predictions – CNET, April 20, 2026
Quantum stocks on pace for a massive week after Nvidia debuts AI models to boost the tech – CNBC, April 16, 2026
Quantum is Leaving the Lab — The UK Must Decide Whether it Will Capture The Value, or Watch the Technology Flourish Elsewhere. – Quantum Insider, April 15, 2026
Robotics
Policy Support for Robotics Firms Shows Defense Integration – Jamestown Foundation, April 15, 2026
Meet the humans training robots at the ‘arm farm’ – The Spectator, April 15, 2026
No flag, no crew, no rights – what Indonesia can legally do about the Lombok drone – The Interpreter, April 10, 2026
Buy a Chinese Cleaning Robot, Have Your Home Watched by Beijing – Bitter Winter, April 6, 2026
Researchers prepare robots for an aging society – Stanford Report, April 1, 2026
Advanced Aerospace Technology
A Match Made Under Heaven: The Emerging Role of China’s Private Sector in Space – CSIS, April 16, 2026
Iran used Chinese spy satellite to target US bases – FT, April 15, 2026
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
South Korea Overtook China as ASML’s Largest Market Last Quarter – Bloomberg, April 15, 2026
Chinese chipmaker YMTC plans new factories amid heightened US-Sino trade tensions, sources say – Reuters, April 14, 2026
China AI Firm Discloses $92 Million of Banned Nvidia Chip Servers to Beijing – Bloomberg, April 10, 2026
Super Micro begins independent probe after criminal case against co‑founder, others – Reuters, April 7, 2026
Energy and Climate
China weighs curbs on exports of solar manufacturing equipment to US – Reuters, April 15, 2026
China’s Electrostate Is Poised to Win from War in the Middle East – NYTs, April 13, 2026
Saudi Oil Sales to China to Halve as Hormuz Crisis Lifts Prices – Bloomberg, April 13, 2026
China’s Connected Vehicles Widen the U.S.-Canada Disconnect – The Wire China, April 12, 2026
China’s Chery looking to expand car production in Europe, top executives say – Reuters, April 12, 2026
The British Solar Startup Being Courted by Both China and the U.S. – WSJ, April 10, 2026
Opinion and Commentary
We Can’t Stop China from Building Powerful A.I. Here’s What We Can Do. – Sebastian Mallaby, NYTs, April 13, 2026
AI Is Bound to Subvert Communism – Cameron Berg, WSJ, April 13, 2026
This May Be the Most Important Medical Story of the Decade – Jeff Coller, NYTs, April 9, 2026
Start Where You Stand – First Breakfast, April 9, 2026
Europe’s Competitiveness Crisis Requires More Than Technocratic Tinkering – Robert Atkinson, In the Arena, April 2, 2026
The Last Word
“The defining contest of the 21st century is not simply between nations and borders. It is between systems: those that use technology to expand freedom and those that weaponize it to entrench control. Trusted technology is the free world’s strategic advantage. It’s the key to winning the future.”
—Roberto Baldoni, Janice deGarmo, Len Khodorkovsky in Newsweek
About: Tech Diplomacy Now
The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue is the world’s preeminent trusted technology accelerator. As the leader of the new category of Tech Diplomacy, the Institute integrates technology expertise, Silicon Valley strategies, and foreign policy tools to build the Global Trusted Tech Network of governments, companies, organizations and individuals to accelerate the innovation and adoption of trusted technology and ensure technology advances freedom.