Chris Miller, author of “Chip War,” says China’s spending on semiconductors and AI infrastructure suggests Beijing does not share the same sense of urgency around artificial general intelligence, or AGI, that is driving investment across the United States.
“If you thought AI was important and chips were an important ingredient, China’s been underspending for the last four years on AI,” Miller said during a Tuesday episode of TBPN. “The Chinese government just doesn’t really believe that AI is going to be nearly as important as we do.”
While responding to reports that China is preparing a roughly $295 billion nationwide AI investment plan, Miller noted that the figure is spread over five years, making annual spending lower than the capital expenditures of leading U.S. cloud and AI companies. “The puzzle is why isn’t Xi Jinping more AGI-pilled?” he added.
Beijing Still Not ‘AGI-Pilled’
He said Beijing is pushing firms toward Huawei’s domestic chip ecosystem, citing possible data security concerns and fears of backdoors in foreign hardware.
The reported AI investment plan follows April data indicating China’s chip exports rose to a record $31 billion, roughly doubling year over year.
Semiconductor Spend Doubled
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