As U.S. restrictions on the export of strategic components tighten, China is doubling down on its efforts to assert technological autonomy in artificial intelligence. During a session of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping called for strengthening the country's scientific and industrial foundations to build an AI ecosystem that is "independent, secure, and fair."
In July 2017, the State Council of the Chinese government unveiled the "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" (NGAIDP), clearly displaying the country's ambition: to become the world leader in AI by 2030. While the EU, the UK, Russia, and other nations seek to position themselves in this technological race, China is in direct competition with the United States for supremacy in this field. As a result of this rivalry, the latter is doing everything possible to counter Chinese efforts: restrictions on the export of chips and announcements of exorbitant tariff increases.
To achieve its goals, China is investing massively in AI and mobilizing both public and private actors. While the United States aims to relocate semiconductors, the Middle Kingdom is aiming for self-sufficiency. Trained with limited material resources, the Chinese chatbot DeepSeek has proven capable of competing with its Western counterparts. For R2, the next generation of the model that will power it, the start-up is said to have opted for a local alternative to NVIDIA's GPUs, as recommended by the government: Huawei's Ascend 910B. 
According to a report by Xinhua, the official news agency of the Chinese government, the president stated:
"In the face of the rapid evolution of new-generation AI technologies, China must fully exploit the advantages of the new system of mobilizing resources on a national scale, support autonomy and self-strengthening, prioritize application-driven development, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the country's AI sector in a beneficial, secure, and fair direction."
 
For Xi Jinping, current technological dependence is a point of vulnerability for China. Recognizing existing gaps in fundamental theories and key technologies like chips and basic software, he insisted on the need for complete autonomy of hardware and software infrastructures. The president also emphasized the importance of AI education from a young age and improving support structures for researchers.
While the official discourse emphasizes self-sufficiency, the Chinese president does not rule out international cooperation. He even calls for global AI governance "based on broad consensus," and for increased aid to countries in the Global South.

Translated from De la dépendance à l'autosuffisance : l’ambition IA de la Chine

To better understand

What is the history of the U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to China?

The U.S. restrictions began in 2018 with expanded lists of technologies requiring a license for exports to China, aimed at curbing access to crucial components for AI technology.