Sunny Cheung
To date, open-source technologies have remained an area of cooperation between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This comes despite worsening geopolitical tensions that have impacted or even severed cooperation in other technological domains. Kubernetes, an open-source platform, presents an unusual case of cooperation. It has been widely adopted not just in commercial industries but also in sensitive areas like US military systems. It is even used in F-16 fighter jets and nuclear infrastructure. On the PRC side, tech giants like Huawei that face sanctions from the United States, are major contributors to the platform and beneficiaries of its development.
While open source offers advantages over closed source systems, its use in critical systems and by US competitors are not without risks. The presence of state-affiliated companies from the PRC in the management and built environment of Kubernetes compounds those potential problems. Given the platform’s centrality and widespread use, however, it is unlikely to be replaced by an alternative any time soon. This suggests that risks surrounding Kubernetes’s use will need to be managed carefully.
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