University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation

As strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington centers on new technologies, a trend towards decoupling and deglobalization is challenging the global links upon which China’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector has relied for a long time. This means that Beijing’s AI development strategy must contend with an erosion of global interdependencies. This policy brief from Rebecca Arcesati, a lead analyst at MERICS, examines three key elements of China’s response: an infrastructure megaproject for computing power, a “whole-of-nation” approach to developing AI foundation models, and efforts to forge connections with foreign innovation systems beyond the United States. None of these come without challenges.