China's AI Industrial Policy

4 months ago 11

I’m very excited to share a new report on China’s efforts to use industrial policy for AI. I was the lead author and worked with an incredible team of researchers at the RAND Corporation, a US think tank. This report is a product of RAND’s new China Research Center.

By Kyle Chan, Gregory Smith, Jimmy Goodrich, Gerard DiPippo, Konstantin F. Pilz

Full report online: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA4012-1.html

China wants to be the global leader in AI by 2030.
But Chinese policymakers are not focused on “winning the race to AGI” (although some Chinese tech companies are, including DeepSeek).
Instead, Chinese policymakers are focused on building a world-leading and resilient AI industry that will drive productivity gains across the entire economy, from manufacturing and healthcare to education and government services.
China’s AI policy is particularly focused on “hard tech” applications, such as robotics and industrial automation.
China is developing its own alternatives to every layer of the AI tech stack driven largely by a need to build resilience to escalating US sanctions.
Open source is a key strategy for Chinese policymakers and tech firms to catch up with US-led platforms by helping to drive adoption and cultivate a broader ecosystem.
China is building a National Integrated Computing Network 全国一体化算力网 that leverages renewable energy in western provinces to boost China’s compute capacity but has faced problems with poorly built data centers and still lags far behind US compute capacity.
State-backed AI labs formed by local governments, such as the Shanghai AI Lab, play a key role in foundational research, creating industry standards, and developing talent.
Ultimately, China’s AI industrial policy will not only help fuel China’s rapid advancements in AI but will also be critical to the country’s continued progress in the face of growing US-led export controls.