A guide to the models, machines and politics behind China’s push to lead in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence has become the sharpest edge of the technology contest between China and the United States. When DeepSeek released its low-cost R1 reasoning model in January 2025, it wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off Nvidia’s market value in a single day and forced Silicon Valley to take Chinese AI labs seriously. Since then a crowd of Chinese model makers has pushed open-weight models into the market at a fraction of US prices, often running on domestic chips.
Beijing sees AI as a tool for economic renewal, military modernization and social control all at once. This guide brings together China Factor’s coverage of the model race, the robot boom, the Communist Party’s grip on the technology and the widening rivalry with Washington.
In this guide
1 The model race: DeepSeek and after
DeepSeek’s breakthrough challenged the assumption that frontier AI needs the most advanced US hardware and the deepest pockets. Chinese labs have since competed on price, openness and efficiency, while Western governments worry about data security and hidden code.
- Zhipu’s GLM-5.3-Flash runs on ~100,000 Chinese chips
- China bets on cheap AI to hook the world
- China’s AI elite issue stark warning amid US rivalry
- Can China’s targeted AI approach hit the bullseye?
- DeepSeek will not chip away at Silicon Valley’s sway
- DeepSeek and China’s high-tech innovation club
- DeepSeek’s ‘hidden code’ is fueling AI data fears
- DeepSeek, deep stink and that ‘Sputnik Moment’
2 The US-China AI rivalry
Washington treats AI leadership as a national security question, using export controls, investment curbs and espionage cases to slow China down. Beijing answers with state funding, industrial policy and a drive for self-reliance.
- US left rocked by China’s ‘Grand Theft AI’ attack
- Mad, mad world of China’s AI rivalry with the US
- China spying strikes and the American AI revolution
- Lines of conflict drawn in the battle for AI dominance
- China locked in AI mind games with the United States
- Trump’s AI battle plan to combat China is flawed
- Trump ups the ante in US-China race for AI dominance
- Beijing’s big tech push to rule the world of AI
- Digital dogfights, AI supremacy and China-US tension
3 Robots, jobs and an ageing workforce
China is betting on robots and automation to offset a shrinking, ageing workforce. The same boom has fuelled a speculative frenzy among humanoid-robot startups and fresh fears about unemployment.
- AI boom explodes China’s unemployment time bomb
- China’s robot mania ignites another zombie outbreak
- Bubble trouble is brewing in China’s robot land
- China’s labor crisis and the rise of the robots
- March of the robots and China’s elderly care crisis
- China’s economic emergency and the robot revolution
- March of the robots highlights China’s research rise
4 Control, surveillance and security
In China, AI must serve the Party. Chatbots are required to reflect official values, AI cameras watch the streets, and the People’s Liberation Army is weighing what autonomous machines mean for the battlefield.
- China calls for a baby boom amid ‘AI lovers’ crackdown
- AI apocalypse or a brave new world for humankind?
- PLA shoots down Xi’s plan for battlefield robots
- US security risks rise over China’s AI androids
- Comrade AI is there to serve China’s Communist Party
- AI spying shock overshadows Wang Yi’s media briefing
- Who will write the rules in the new world of AI?
- AI propaganda poses a clear and present election danger
- AI cameras spy on Chinese citizens in Xi crackdown
- China’s chatbots will have to toe the Party line
- China is turning to military robots to remake its borders
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This guide is updated as China Factor publishes new coverage. Last revision: November 2026.