China is gradually becoming a global leading innovator in advanced industries

Key recent developments, including blockbuster product breakthroughs and renewed political and economic focus, indicate more strongly than ever that China has reached a new stage in its science and technology development. This stage is hallmarked by much greater innovation capability in China's domestic companies. 

Next-gen private enterprises like Unitree Robotics, Deep Robotics, BrainCo, Game Science, and Manycore Tech, for example, have made waves in key emerging technology areas such as AI, robotics and human-computer interfacing, and even encroached upon previously West-dominated areas such as video games and animated films.

Some Western media believe that China's innovation is experiencing explosive development. This comes even as companies invested in technologies that are relatively more mature, like renewables, NEVs and the low-altitude economy, continue to scale.

Among several others, the semiconductor field has broad development prospects in China. Nikkei Asia reported that China's aggressive expansion in older semiconductors and niche substrates has driven down chip prices to previously unthinkable levels. IDC estimates that China's mature chip capacity will account for about 28 percent of the global market this year. The industry association SEMI says that the figure could grow to 39 percent by 2027.

In another field, the Chinese biotech industry's big commercial milestone came last fall. The Economist reported that in 2024, a third of the large licensing deals from Western drugmakers, which are worth $50 million or more, were with Chinese firms, triple the share of 2020.

In AI, perhaps the world's most prominent sunrise sector, breakthrough Chinese chatbot DeepSeek has positioned China on the forefront of development. According to the BBC, there are more than 4,500 companies developing and selling AI in China, and money is pouring into AI businesses seeking more capital.

These and several other quantum leaps speak volumes of the prowess of Chinese innovators, and also the fostering role of the Chinese government. The BBC World Service cites Lindsay Gorman, emerging technologies fellow at a German Marshall Fund think tank, attributing China's tech field success to "the government really sets a research agenda and a funding agenda." The Chinese government also brings businesses from outside of China, oftentimes to set up joint ventures with Chinese companies.

The continued progress in the tech sector also shows that China's innovation cannot be contained.

"MIT Technology Review" published an article "How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions", it said "DeepSeek's success is even more remarkable given the constraints facing Chinese AI companies in the form of increasing US export controls on cutting-edge chips. However early evidence shows that these measures are not working as intended. Rather than weakening China's AI capabilities, the sanctions appear to be driving startups like DeepSeek to innovate in ways that prioritize efficiency, resource-pooling, and collaboration."

The Financial Times also mentioned that tougher US sanctions on China will only backfire.

(Cover via CFP)