⁠⁠This was published in early January 2025 by the Shenzhen AI Industry Association, pre-DeepSeek R1. I definitely think it was the prevailing view for most of last year. What do you think, should they update the piece or nah, since a lot remain unchanged?⁠⁠

The Gap Between the U.S. & China in AI Is Widening, Not Narrowing

Computing Power

The U.S. holds 90% of global AI computing power and is expanding its lead. Microsoft plans an $80 billion investment in AI data centers in 2025, with AWS, Google, and Meta also boosting AI infrastructure. China, limited by restrictions on NVIDIA chips, relies on outdated domestic alternatives. Its AI computing capacity is under 1/10th of the U.S., often underutilized due to inefficiencies.

Data Resources

The U.S. benefits from vast, high-quality, multilingual datasets across industries and controls much of the global internet infrastructure. China’s AI training data is mostly Chinese, government-controlled, and estimated at 10% of the U.S.’s—possibly as low as 1% in practice.

AI Large Models

The U.S. leads in foundational AI model innovation through companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. China’s models are derivative, limited by compute power and data, though it produces more industry-specific models. It lags in general AI breakthroughs. [This is probably the only one that has changed at all]

AI Talent

The U.S. attracts over 50% of top AI researchers and hosts 60% of leading AI institutions. China files more AI patents, but they lack the impact of U.S. innovations, widening the research gap.

AI Applications

The U.S. integrates AI into biotechnology, manufacturing, and automation. OpenAI expects $110 billion in 2025 revenue, Tesla advances autonomous driving and robotics, Microsoft embeds AI in enterprise software, and Meta leads in XR and consumer tech. China develops AI applications but trails in global influence and depth.

Conclusion

The U.S. dominates in AI infrastructure, talent, and applications. The gap with China is widening, with no signs of convergence. China remains a second-tier player as the U.S. defines the cutting edge.

- Rui