Multipolarity Multipolarity Dialogues: Steve Hsu on China's Tech Frontiers
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Jul 24, 2025 
Steve Hsu, a physicist and tech entrepreneur, delves into China's rapid advancements in technology, challenging the old narrative that it only imitates. He discusses innovations in AI, robotics, and semiconductors, highlighting how China leads in critical tech sectors. The conversation shifts to military technology, examining the implications of China's missile and drone advancements on global power dynamics. Amidst this rise, Hsu questions the U.S.'s response and whether it can regain geopolitical dominance.
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China's STEM Edge Drives Tech Lead
- China produces eight times more STEM graduates annually than the US due to a larger population and higher STEM focus.
- Their human capital and infrastructure enable rapid advances across many cutting-edge technologies, often at parity or ahead of the West.
China's AI Gap Narrows Rapidly
- China is nearly on par with the US in AI, with a gap of at most six months between top labs.
- Chinese labs openly release AI models, fostering academic research and encouraging broad adoption globally.
China's Chip Ecosystem Complexity
- China's chipmaking is limited by lack of EUV tech but Huawei compensates with strong networking clusters.
- Chinese data centers combine both NVIDIA and Huawei hardware, showing a fluid competition and government push toward domestic tech.