China is closing in on US technology lead despite constraints, AI researchers say

Leading Chinese artificial intelligence researchers assert that China is capable of narrowing its technological gap with the United States, driven by increased risk-taking and innovation, although the lack of advanced chipmaking tools remains a major obstacle. Yao Shunyu, Tencent's chief AI scientist, suggested a Chinese firm could become the world's leading AI company within three to five years, provided they overcome bottlenecks like lithography machines and the software ecosystem. While China has a prototype for an extreme-ultraviolet lithography machine, it may not produce working chips until 2030. Researchers also acknowledged the U.S. advantage in computing power due to massive infrastructure investment. However, Chinese firms are innovating through algorithm-hardware co-design to run large models on less expensive hardware, and entrepreneurs are showing a greater willingness to embrace high-risk ventures, which is seen as a positive development.

(Source：Yahoo Tech)