The Era of China Lagging Far Behind the US Has Ended: Former Google CEO

“From DeepSeek to Temu to TikTok… Chinese technology is beginning to take the lead.” Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, pointed out in a co-authored opinion piece for The New York Times on May 5 that China’s technology level once started at a low point, but it has now transformed from an early “imitator” into a global technology leader, achieving parity or even surpassing the United States in multiple fields, including artificial intelligence.

He acknowledged that although the U.S. has imposed export controls to curb China’s AI development, it has instead prompted China to work harder, cultivating a large number of talents and building a strong supply chain. Today, it is no longer an era where China lags far behind the U.S.

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, International Business Times (ibtimes)

The article begins by mentioning the changes in Chinese life brought about by technological advancement: electric vehicles speeding down roads, some apps offering drone delivery services, and human-like robots from UFactory becoming famous overnight with performances at the most popular Chinese New Year Gala.

This transformation reveals a reality: China is on par with the U.S. in various technological fields, even leading in some aspects, especially in the cutting-edge fields of AI. Moreover, China has gained a real advantage in the dissemination, commercialization, and manufacturing of technology. History tells us that countries capable of adopting and promoting a technology the fastest will win.

Schmidt said that to win future tech competitions and ultimately in the race for global leadership, the U.S. must abandon the notion that it will always lead.

He noted that for a long time, China was a late starter in this tech race. In 2007, when Steve Jobs launched the first Apple iPhone, China’s internet revolution was just beginning: only about 10% of China’s population had internet access, and Alibaba’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange was still seven years away.

The AI race initially seemed to follow this pattern. After the release of ChatGPT in 2022, a batch of imitation chatbots emerged in China, generally considered to be years behind the U.S.

However, as in the story of smartphones and electric vehicles, Silicon Valley once again underestimated China’s ability to rapidly develop cheap yet advanced products. Now, China’s models are very close to American products, for example, DeepSeek’s V3 large language model released in March, which became the top-performing non-inference model on some benchmarks.

May 4, 2025, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, UFactory’s humanoid robot G1 is “patrolling” the AI tech marketplace on Wensan Digital Life Street. Visual China

Schmidt lamented that in twelve years, China has transformed from an “imitator” into a powerful nation with world-class products, sometimes surpassing Western products.

For instance, Xiaomi delivered over 130,000 electric vehicles last year, while Apple, after spending about $10 billion over more than a decade, abandoned efforts to build electric vehicles. Additionally, China is accelerating large-scale deployment of robots with plans for mass production of humanoid robots. In 2023, China installed more industrial robots than the combined sum of other countries.

The article notes that China has cultivated a large number of talents in science and engineering over the years, constructed a strong supply chain, and established an incredible manufacturing prowess alongside a highly competitive domestic environment, where the only way to survive is through constant iteration.

“If we do not unite, a future led by China has already arrived.” the article states, urging the U.S. to learn from what China does well. For example, the U.S. needs to publicly share its AI technology and related research more widely, accelerate innovation speed further, and promote AI more aggressively across the entire economy.

The article mentions that although China itself also faces significant challenges, the U.S. must not underestimate China’s resolve to endure short-term economic pain in pursuit of technical leadership.

Even though the U.S. has implemented export controls on cutting-edge chips to curb China’s AI development, recent breakthroughs by China indicate that such restrictions have instead prompted Chinese entrepreneurs to continue training AI and foster its commercialization.

The article notes that during a visit by co-author Selena to China, when the topic of U.S. export controls came up during a luncheon, someone jokingly said, “The U.S. should also sanction our soccer team so they can play better.”

The article states that for the U.S., it’s a harsh reality but China’s tech advances under constraints have happened because Chinese entrepreneurs have found innovative ways to achieve more with fewer resources.

“The era when China lags far behind the U.S. is over,” the article concludes if China’s innovation capability continues, if Chinese AI companies maintain an open attitude, and if China plans to occupy 45% of the global manufacturing share by 2030, the future AI race will be an all-out competition in various fields, forcing the U.S. to leverage every advantage it possesses.

Editor: Zhongxiaowen