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The US has held sway over the global technology market for decades. However, the World's Second Largest Economy seeks to change that situation.

This economic powerhouse is investing huge sums of funds into AI technologies and robotics. Crucially, Chinese authorities is also directing considerable investment toward producing the high-end chips that power these state-of-the-art systems.

Recently, Jensen Huang highlighted that the Chinese semiconductor industry was just "slightly trailing" the American tech sector in chip development.

Therefore, can China rival American technology and end its dependence on imported high-end chips?

After DeepSeek

The Chinese AI Company DeepSeek created a stir through the tech world in last year when it launched a rival to the widely-used AI chatbot.

This revelation by a little-known company was remarkable for multiple factors, including because the company stated it cost much less to train than top artificial intelligence systems.

It was said to have been created using a smaller number of high-end chips than its rivals, and its launch caused a drop in Nvidia's market value.

Moreover, momentum in China's tech sector has continued. This year, some of the nation's leading technology companies have made it clear that they intend to compete with the AI chip leader and emerge as the primary high-end semiconductor providers for domestic firms.

In September, official sources announced that a new chip developed by Alibaba can equal the capabilities of Nvidia's H20 semiconductors while using less energy. H20s are modified processors made for the Chinese market under American trade restrictions.

Huawei also revealed what it described as its most powerful chips ever, along with a multi-year strategy to contest Nvidia's leading position of the artificial intelligence sector.

This major firm also announced it would release its blueprints and computer programs accessible to the public in China in an attempt to pull companies away from their reliance on US products.

Additional semiconductor firms in China have also obtained significant deals with big businesses in the country. One such company is providing high-end processors for entities like state-owned telecoms operator China Unicom.

Another highly anticipated possible competitor to Nvidia is headquartered in Beijing a rising semiconductor firm.

The company's stock have significantly increased in price over the last three months as market participants speculate that it will benefit from Beijing's push for Chinese firms to use domestically made advanced semiconductors.

Tencent, which owns the all-in-one platform its popular messaging service, is an additional notable tech giant that has heeded the official directive to use domestic processors.

There has also been no shortage of state-backed events, promoting domestic tech firms in a bid to attract investors.

"The competition has clearly arrived," a spokesperson for Nvidia commented in reply to questions about the latest developments made by Chinese chip firms.

"Customers will choose the most effective solutions for operating the globally dominant commercial applications and publicly available AI systems. We'll persist in our efforts to gain the trust and backing of mainstream developers everywhere."

However, some experts have warned that assertions made by China's semiconductor producers should be taken with a pinch of salt due to a absence of publicly available data and consistent testing benchmarks.

China's semiconductors are comparable to the American chips in forecasting applications but lag behind in complex analytics, noted tech expert Jawad Haj-Yahya, who has evaluated both processors from the US and China.

"The gap is evident and it is certainly narrowing. However, it is unlikely they will close it in the near future."

China's Strengths and Weaknesses

On a industry discussion in last month, the CEO of Nvidia emphasized the advantages of China's tech sector, crediting its dedicated and large talent pool, fierce local rivalry and advancements in chipmaking.

"This is a vibrant innovative, high-tech, modern industry," he said, encouraging the US to vie "for its survival."

This evaluation is likely to be welcomed by authorities in the Chinese capital.

The country has long vied to become a worldwide frontrunner in technology, in part to reduce its dependence on the Western nations.

For years, China has poured significant resources into what the country's leader calls "advanced growth", which covers industries from renewables to AI.

Even before US President Donald Trump's return to the White House, the Chinese government had spent billions of dollars as part of its initiatives to transform its large economic system from the "world's factory" for basic products to a home of advanced industries.

A continuing trade dispute with the United States under Trump has only rendered this goal more urgent.

The Chinese President has pledged to make his nation more self-reliant and not depend on "external assistance."

Mr Huang has also warned that the United States should trade freely with China or risk giving it the edge in the artificial intelligence competition.

This comes against a backdrop of Beijing exerting more pressure on the chip maker as it initiated an investigation into market dominance into the company last month.

However, the government-directed strategy can also be an barrier to innovation if all participants in the industry only concentrates on a "common objective", noted academic expert Chia-Lin Yang from a leading educational institution.

It can make it more difficult for disruptive ideas to break the mould, she commented.

The Chinese semiconductor sector has also not fully addressed criticism that its products can be more challenging to use than those of Western rivals like the industry leader.

The Professor believes these challenges can quickly be solved by the large quantity of skilled tech industry workers.

"One should not downplay China's ability to close the gap."

'Bargaining Chip' for China

She characterized the latest reports from China about the chip sector as a "bargaining chip" in its extended trade discussions with the United States.

Chinese officials seeks to pressure Washington into providing its advanced equipment or risk its standing in such a large market, stated Dr Jawad.

These announcements demonstrate capability on China's part, even though it is {