{
  "id": 1462175,
  "title": "Can China follow its own ‘technological path’ amid growing AI rivalry with US?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/can-china-follow-its-own-technological-path-amid-growing-ai-rivalry",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-17T10:00:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3364296/can-china-follow-its-own-technological-path-amid-growing-ai-rivalry-us"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "China's pursuit of a unique technological path in the face of escalating U.S. export restrictions may be instrumental in the ongoing AI rivalry between the two nations, argues Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In his preface to a new book about Huawei's Atlas 950 SuperPoD computing system, Zheng emphasizes that China's ability to adapt to external pressures is crucial. The Atlas 950, showcased at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, is described as the industry's largest AI supernode, capable of linking over 1,000 processors. Zheng argues that true technological autonomy involves more than just having chips; it's about defining the technological path. He places this shift in the context of a broader competition over chips, computing power, operating systems, and AI infrastructure, suggesting that it signifies a shift from being driven by economic logic to security logic. Zheng contends that technology is not merely a production tool but also \"structural power between nations.\" Computing power represents authority, algorithms signify order, and platforms embody governance. China's challenge, according to Zheng, lies not only in making breakthroughs under pressure but also in sustaining them by building a \"technological survival structure.\" This structure comprises control over foundational hardware, the ability to organize developer ecosystems and applications, and the industrial capacity to translate technological strength into standards and governance rules. Without all three, China's independent innovation could become fragmented, warns Zheng. The U.S. has progressively tightened its restrictions on Chinese access to technology, with officials warning that China's advancements in AI and computing power have strategic implications for American national security. Huawei, for instance, was added to the U.S. Entity List in May 2019, leading to sweeping export controls on advanced semiconductors, AI chips, and manufacturing equipment. Zheng highlights China's distinctive organisational model, known as \"embedded state capacity,\" where enterprises act as both market players and nodes in a national technology system, enabling rapid resource mobilization. While this model is effective in innovation and solving clearly defined problems, Zheng suggests it may be less flexible and diverse, raising questions about Beijing's ability to address unforeseen challenges. Long-term resilience, he argues, requires openness, diversity, and tolerance for failure, qualities often associated with a marketplace of technological ideas. The Atlas story is part of a larger contest over who gets to define the rules and pathways of future technology, or \"systemic capacity competition.\" If computing power structures become a core variable of global competition in the next decade, victory will hinge on a nation's ability to continually organize technology, capital, and institutions, argues Zheng. US think tanks have largely echoed Zheng's emphasis on systemic capacity and the divergence between the U.S. and Chinese approaches to AI governance. A Brookings Institution analysis notes that Chinese AI labs have limited access to cutting-edge computing capacity and capital but are advancing rapidly through efficiency gains, open-source diffusion, and integration into the real economy. The Center for Strategic and International Studies argues that while restrictions on advanced superconductors may slow China, they won't prevent it from achieving operational parity in sectors like robotics, which rely on less high-powered chips.",
  "summary": "China’s ability to set its own technological course in the face of sustained US export restrictions may be the key factor in the two countries’ contest over artificial intelligence, a prominent analyst has argued. Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), made the case in his preface to The Rise of Atlas, a new book about the…",
  "key_points": [
    "China's Atlas 950 SuperPoD computing system showcased as industry's largest AI supernode.",
    "Zheng Yongnian emphasizes true technological autonomy involves more than just chips."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Reuters Business via SCMP",
        "title": "Can China follow its own ‘technological path’ amid growing AI rivalry with US?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/can-china-follow-its-own-technological-path-amid-growing-ai-rivalry-1466478",
        "published": "2026-08-17T10:00:16.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}