00:01The rise of Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeq has taken the world by storm.
00:07But it's part of a wider trend.
00:09Chinese apps are rising up the charts around the world.
00:12TikTok, CapCut, Xi'an, Timu, to name a few.
00:19And it's not just on our phones.
00:21China is becoming dominant in many other areas of tech.
00:24Look at cars. It's overtaken the previous epicenters of motoring,
00:28selling more than any other country thanks to hit electric car makers like BYD.
00:34A lot of this success comes from China being the world's biggest battery maker now too.
00:39And solar panels. China's responsible for an estimated 80 to 95% of the global supply chain.
00:47By 2028, it's predicted that 60% of the world's renewable energy will be generated in China.
00:54In drones too, China rules the skies.
00:58Next time you hear that buzzing above your head,
01:00there's a 70% chance it's a DJI drone made in the city of Shenzhen.
01:05Three of the world's top ten drone makers are Chinese.
01:09In the futuristic world of quantum computers,
01:12Chinese scientists publish more quantum-related research papers annually than any other country.
01:17And they're even ahead of the general leaders, the US, in some areas of quantum computing development.
01:24And it's the same picture in AI.
01:27Chinese AI firms now issue more patents than any other country.
01:31And the rise of DeepSeq shows it's capable of challenging the dominant US giants with products too.
01:37So how has China done all this?
01:41Well, it's all part of a long-term plan.
01:47In 2015, the Chinese government set out an ambitious project called Made in China 2025.
01:53It wanted to move away from being the world's factory for low-cost goods,
01:57to a global tech leader responsible for its own supply chain of cutting-edge tech.
02:02Made in China 2025, in my opinion, was largely successful.
02:07So in many industries, like China is catching up with the leading edge.
02:11And in some industries, China is even leading.
02:14Even in cars and 5G, batteries, solar energies.
02:21Now even in the AI, JAI, China becomes one of the players.
02:26Across 10 target technologies, the plan set out more than 250 mini-goals.
02:32And according to analysis from South China Morning Post, 86% of them have been ticked off.
02:38Some targets, like electric vehicles and renewable energy production, have far exceeded the targets.
02:44South China Morning Post is sometimes accused of being pro-China.
02:47But Made in China 2025 has been hailed a success by many other analysts too.
02:53So how has China done it?
02:55What China has been moderately successful, at least, and some would say incredibly successful at doing,
03:00is using its sort of state-backed capitalism system, whereby the government really sets a research agenda,
03:06sets a funding agenda, bringing foreign researchers and enticing them to stay in China,
03:12or at least to give their innovations and ideas over to Chinese companies,
03:17requiring businesses from outside of China, oftentimes to set up joint ventures with Chinese ventures.
03:23These are all sort of tools that China has used to help achieve these ambitions.
03:28According to US Congress research, the Chinese government planned to raise or spend $1.5 trillion on grants
03:39for research, development or buying foreign companies.
03:42According to the report, more than $627 billion had been spent by 2020.
03:48Research centres sprung up in city hubs centred around various technologies.
03:54Also, the US and its allies have accused China of short-cutting some of its tech innovation
03:59by stealing intellectual property through hacking.
04:02For example, US aircraft makers. China has always denied this.
04:06Made in China 2025 got so successful that after just a few years,
04:12the government stopped using the term as it was antagonising rivals.
04:16But it was too late.
04:18Over the years, the West have imposed restrictions and sanctions on China regarding sensitive technologies.
04:28But this huge external threat has wakened up the Chinese
04:32and kind of forced them to pursue a self-sufficiency strategy in this advanced technology.
04:39There's an old saying in China, life always finds its own way out.
04:43Huawei is a great example of this. In around 2019, it was top of the world in 5G equipment.
04:49It had a huge market share in mobile phones, too.
04:52All of that took a major hit, though, when the US led widespread sanctions against the company,
04:57citing national security concerns around spying.
05:00Huawei's market share shrank and it couldn't get the microchips it needed to keep innovating.
05:06But it pivoted into microchip manufacturing and is now a major player in that, too.
05:12In 2023, it released a phone with a microchip far beyond what the rest of the world thought was possible
05:17for the company or the country.
05:19A similar situation happened with the viral new chatbot DeepSeq.
05:23The firm says it couldn't get the most powerful chips to train its models,
05:27so it says it made do with older ones and innovated new techniques.
05:31They built the impressive bot for far less money with far less kit.
05:35For the US, it came as a shock.
05:37DeepSeq AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.
05:47TikTok, too, has taken the West by surprise.
05:50It's the first non-US social network to succeed in the last ten years.
05:54Its enormous success is under the spotlight, though, and under threat from potential intervention by the US on national security grounds.
06:02But Xi'an and Timu are proving worthy challenges in e-commerce now, too, thanks to combining China's cheap goods with innovative app technology.
06:11But China hasn't succeeded in all its 2025 goals.
06:15It's still years behind other countries in chip-making, with progress set to get even worse thanks to more sanctions and controls.
06:22Plus, the US government and private firms are throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into staying ahead in chip tech.
06:28This increased research and development funding is going to ensure the United States leads the world in the industries of the future.
06:35And in January, the US celebrated a commitment from tech giants to invest a potential $500 billion into infrastructure for AI.
06:44And it's all taking place right here in America.
06:48Other industrialised countries like Germany and Japan have also launched counter-plans, too.
06:53But there's no doubt that a new high-tech leader has emerged with big ambitions, deep pockets and plenty of patience.
07:00poets
07:06You
07:08You
07:09You
07:12You
07:13You
07:14You
07:19You
07:23You
07:24You
07:26You
Comments