Tech race between US, China getting out of hand

The tech race has triggered something that is beginning to look a lot like a Cold War. And the US is now very aware that China is leading in many fields.

As early as last year, Eric Schmidt warned that the US faced a competitor in China that was aggressively trying to close the gap in emerging technologies.

Now, according to a new report by the Harvard Kennedy School, China has stolen the lead in the tech race and is ahead in several key areas such as AI and quantum computing.

It is not just the everyday technology that is at stake, it is clear that China is stealing the show in other areas such as weather modification, hypersonic missiles and exploring the moon.

The US is responding by cutting off access to western capital markets (the companies involved are not liking one little bit) but you have to wonder if this move to pull level in great tech race may not backfire in the long run.

China is known for its patience and its behaviour recently does not suggest that it will be pushed off course lightly.

It will continue trying to win the tech race, even with its leading companies being temporarily choked. As Richard Windsor says, it is a game that will be played out over the next decade or so, not the next year or so.

China has the momentum and, somehow, innovation in many areas will be funded and encouraged. Putting officials onto the boards of companies to keep an eye on them could mean that access to funding is assured for ‘approved projects.’

China also has allies, such as Russia, who are happy with anything that the US does not like, even though they compete for the title of ‘best hacker.’

Whatever the eventual outcome of the tech race (which may never end), China currently has the upper hand in many areas that will define our future, such as AI, facial recognition, quantum computing and of course the weather modification programme and the very, very fast missile.

The question is what it will do with that superiority and will global money follow the winning technology. Disruptive.Asia