【By Guancha Observer Network Liu Chenghui】

"From DeepSeek to Temu, and then to TikTok... Chinese technology is starting to take the lead." In a co-authored commentary article published in The New York Times on May 5, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt pointed out that China, once with a low starting point in technology, has transformed from an early "mimic" into a global technology leader, and is now on par with or even ahead of the United States in many fields, including artificial intelligence.

He admitted that despite U.S. export controls aimed at curbing China's AI development, these measures have instead motivated China to work harder, cultivating a large number of talents, building a strong supply chain, and marking the end of the era when China was far behind the United States.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt - International Business Times (ibtimes)

The article began by mentioning how technological progress has changed people's lives in China: electric vehicles zooming down the streets, some applications offering drone food delivery services, and human-like robots from Unitree Technology gained overnight fame through their dance and handkerchief-spinning performances on China's most popular Spring Festival Gala stage.

This transformation reveals a reality: China is on equal footing with the U.S. in various technological fields and even leads in certain aspects, particularly in cutting-edge AI fields. Moreover, China has formed a true advantage in the dissemination, commercialization, and manufacturing of technology. History tells us that those countries able to adopt and promote a technology the fastest will triumph.

Schmidt said that for the U.S. to win in future technological competitions and thereby gain global leadership, it must abandon its notion of always being ahead.

He mentioned that for a long time, China started slowly in this technological race. In 2007, the year Steve Jobs introduced Apple's first iPhone, China’s internet revolution was just beginning: at that time, only about 10% of the population had access to the internet, and it would be another seven years before Alibaba, the tech giant, went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

The AI race initially seemed to continue this pattern. After ChatGPT was released in 2022, China saw a surge of imitative chatbots, generally considered to lag behind the U.S. by several years.

However, as in the stories of smartphones and electric vehicles, Silicon Valley again underestimated China's ability to quickly develop affordable yet advanced products. Today, China's models are very close to American products; for instance, DeepSeek's V3 large language model, released in March this year, became the best-performing non-inference model in some benchmark tests.

On May 4, 2025, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Unitree Technology's humanoid robot G1 patrolled the AI Black Tech Market at the Wen San Digital Life Blockade.

Schmidt marveled that in twelve years, China has transformed from a "mimic" into a powerful nation with world-class products, sometimes surpassing Western products.

For example, Xiaomi delivered over 130,000 electric vehicles last year; while Apple abandoned its efforts to build electric vehicles after spending about $1 billion over more than ten years. Also, China is accelerating the large-scale deployment of robots and has plans for mass-producing humanoid robots; in 2023, the number of industrial robots installed in China exceeded the total of similar robots in all other countries combined.

The article noted that over the years, China has cultivated a large number of science and engineering talents, constructed a strong supply chain, built an incredible manufacturing strength, and created a highly competitive domestic environment, where the only way to survive is continuous iteration.

"If we do not unite, the future dominated by China has already arrived," the article wrote. The U.S. should learn what China does well. For example, the U.S. needs to share its AI technologies and related research more openly to accelerate innovation further and intensify efforts to promote AI across the entire economy.

The article mentioned that although China itself faces significant challenges, the U.S. cannot underestimate China's determination to endure short-term economic pain in pursuit of technological leadership.

Despite U.S. export controls on advanced chips aimed at curbing China's AI development, recent breakthroughs indicate that such restrictions have instead driven Chinese entrepreneurs to continuously train AI and promote its commercialization.

The article mentioned that during a luncheon visit to China by the other author, Selena, when the conversation turned to U.S. export controls, someone joked, "The U.S. should also sanction our men's football team so they can play better."

The article stated that this is a difficult reality for the U.S., but Chinese technology has made progress under lockdown because Chinese entrepreneurs have found innovative ways to achieve more with fewer resources.

"The era when China was far behind the U.S. has ended," the article concluded. If China's innovative capabilities continue, if China's AI companies continue to maintain an open attitude, and if China plans to capture 45% of global manufacturing shares by 2030, the future AI competition will become a comprehensive competition across all fields, and the U.S. will need to utilize every advantage it possesses.

This article is an exclusive contribution from the Guancha Observer Network and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7501905171652329984/

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