silicon curtain

English

Etymology

From silicon (“computing”) +‎ curtain, by analogy with Iron Curtain.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tən

Noun

silicon curtain (plural not attested)

1. (geopolitics, computing, sometimes preceded by the) A legal barrier to the transfer of technology and the sale of advanced computer equipment between China and the West.
   • 2019 November 11, Carolynn Look, Jeff Black, “Peering Through the Silicon Curtain Between the U.S. and China”, in Bloomberg News:

     We hear also from Huawei’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, who explains that while the company doesn’t want to exist behind a “silicon curtain,” cut off from global suppliers, it is readying its own operating system to replace the one it used to buy from Google.

   • 2021 February, Eric Boehm, “A Silicon Curtain Descends”, in Reason, published 2020:

     Pence went on to say that America did not seek a technological decoupling from China. But other parts of that speech—and some of the actions taken by the Trump administration in the months since—conjure images of a silicon curtain descending across the world.

   • 2025, SellWave Audio, Summary of Nexus, A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI:

     The Silicon Curtain, therefore, is not only about control of infrastructure but also about shaping thought, culture, and identity across populations.