Sen. Todd Young Unveils "Tech Playbook" to Rival China’s Influence
Sen. Todd Young Unveils “Tech Playbook” to Rival China’s Influence
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) joined a bipartisan panel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Wednesday to launch a new offensive in the global technology race.
Speaking alongside Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Young argued that the United States must move past “paranoia” and “unemotional review” to adopt a disciplined, long-term strategy to defeat China’s growing influence in high-tech sectors.
Young, a former Marine and fifth-generation Hoosier, leaned on a metaphor from the gridiron—specifically citing the “prescient” success of the Indiana University football team—to outline his three-pronged “Tech Power Playbook.”
Strong Offense: Young emphasized the need to invest in America’s own innovation ecosystem. “The purpose there is to de-risk some of these technologies so that the private sector can step in,” Young said. He called for “fundamental breakthroughs that benefit our entire economy and our military effectiveness.”
Strong Defense: To protect American assets, Young urged more robust export controls and hardening critical infrastructure. “We certainly need to harden ourselves against having our tech assets and our infrastructure in any way manipulated by our adversaries,” he warned, noting that the U.S. has previously been “caught on our heels” by the Chinese Communist Party.
Special Teams: Young defined “Special Teams” as the power of international tech alliances. He advocated for “pooling our expertise and resources to train workers and harden supply chains,” ensuring there is no “critical point of failure” in areas like semiconductor manufacturing.
The “Long Game” Against China
During the discussion, which marked the launch of the CSIS Tech Edge Report, Young pushed back against the pessimism that the U.S. has lost its footing to China’s “long game.”
“We can lead, we can remain the leader… but it’s clear we need to up our game, and we need to come up with a more systematic approach,” Young stated.
Young highlighted the CHIPS and Science Act as a successful model of “tech diplomacy” that could be adapted for other emerging technologies. He argued that the U.S. State Department’s efforts to train “tech diplomats” to identify supply chain vulnerabilities have already shown positive results.
Looking toward the immediate future in Congress, Young identified Artificial Intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles as top priorities.
“Companies are only going to keep deploying these massive amounts of money if they have certainty about what the future looks like,” Young explained. He called for a bipartisan push for permitting reform and a clearer legal framework to foster private-sector confidence.
Sen. Todd Young Unveils “Tech Playbook” to Rival China’s Influence was originally published on wibc.com
