Ammon News - China’s advantages in developing artificial intelligence are about to unleash a wave of innovation that will generate more than 100 DeepSeek-like breakthroughs in the coming 18 months, according to a former top official.

The new software products “will fundamentally change the nature and the tech nature of the whole Chinese economy,” Zhu Min, who was previously a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said during the World Economic Forum in Tianjin on Tuesday.

Zhu, who also served as the deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund, sees a transformation made possible by harnessing China’s pool of engineers, massive consumer base and supportive government policies.

The bullish take on China’s AI future promises no letup in the competition for dominance in cutting-edge technologies with the US, just as the world’s two biggest economies are also locked in a trade war. The US sees China as a key rival in the field of AI, especially after DeepSeek shocked the global tech industry in January with its low-cost but powerful model.

In addition to efforts to prevent China from securing advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Washington is blocking Chinese companies from acquiring Nvidia Corp.’s high-end AI chips for training, citing national security concerns. Beijing is now pinning its hopes on domestic tech giants like Huawei Technologies Co. when it comes to advanced chipmaking.

The emergence of DeepSeek triggered a rally in China’s tech stocks, fueling optimism over Chinese competitiveness despite tensions over trade with the Trump administration and economic challenges at home.

Bloomberg Economics estimates the contribution of high-tech to China’s gross domestic product climbed to about 15% in 2024 — from near 14% a year earlier — and could exceed 18% in 2026. Economic Times