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Opinion
AI is no longer a mere investment, but a matter of sovereignty
As the US-China race for primacy in artificial intelligence heats up, nations must boost their capabilities or fall behind in the global divide
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Jeffrey Wu is a director at MindWorks Capital, a leading Hong Kong-headquartered venture capital firm specialising in technology investment across Greater China and Southeast Asia.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer simply a technological innovation – it has become the defining fault line in global geopolitics, illuminating a widening chasm between nations prepared for the future and those falling dangerously behind.
The escalating semiconductor restrictions by the Donald Trump administration, pressuring allies like Japan and the Netherlands while contemplating stricter limits on Nvidia’s AI chips, underscore the intensity of the US-China rivalry. However, China’s AI ambitions remain undeterred, exemplified by Alibaba’s staggering 380 billion yuan (US$48.3 billion) AI infrastructure investment – the largest private computing initiative China has ever seen.
Despite restrictive US export controls, Nvidia’s chips, such as the H20 model designed to comply with American restrictions, continue to witness surging demand in China, driven partly by state-backed adoption and cost-efficient AI models from firms like DeepSeek. Shenzhen, Guangdong province and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province are aggressively advancing AI and robotics, reinforcing China’s innovation race.
Yet as history repeatedly shows – from the telegraph to the internet – early technological leaders not only dominate economically but also rewrite the rules of global influence.
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