Another good example of the nexus between security and trade is high performance computers. High performance computers have attained a symbolic importance in our debates over technology transfer which their real utility may not warrant. These were the supercomputers of the 1980's, but today you can find more capable machines on many office desktops. The U.S. currently dominates the high performance computer market, in part because of the computer export policy adopted by this administration in 1995. This sector is vital to the of the U.S. economy as a whole.
Exports account for roughly half the revenues of U.S. computer companies.
Ill-advised export legislation could put this vital sector at risk without a justifiable benefit to national security. Commerce received 849 export licenses for China in 1997, valued at one billion dollars. This eighty percent approval rate for China is lower than most other countries, including Russia. Applications for China usually take fifty-four days to process, sometimes because we must wait for sufficient information. The average for all licenses is twenty-nine days.