China’s domestic AI chipmakers are rapidly narrowing the gap with international leaders, according to Xu Bing, co-founder of SenseTime Group Inc. Despite Asia’s significant lag behind the US in computation power for artificial intelligence, China possesses the necessary talent and data to catch up, Xu stated in an interview at the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. SenseTime is among China’s pioneering companies in the field of artificial intelligence, although it has been placed on a US investment blacklist due to broad American sanctions aimed at curbing China’s advancements in AI.
China’s progress in this area has been hampered by US trade controls that restrict the import of Nvidia Corp.’s advanced AI accelerators. Consequently, domestic alternatives from companies such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Shanghai Biren Technology Co. have emerged to address this need. However, these companies are also subject to US trade restrictions.
Xu stated to Bloomberg’s David Ingles that there is a general shortage of resources in Asia. He mentioned that the compute resources in Asia are significantly lower compared to the US leaders, with a gap of about ten times. However, Xu believes that Asian markets have an abundance of talent and data.
Xu also mentioned that Chinese domestic chips are rapidly catching up, and SenseTime is collaborating with local semiconductor companies to enhance their compute capabilities. Although Xu did not specify any particular firms, Huawei has emerged as China’s leader in chip technology development, successfully overcoming US restrictions to develop its own advanced smartphone processor last year.
Regarding the gap between China and the US in computing power, Xu stated that it is uncertain, with some estimating it to be a year behind, while others believe it is three years. However, Xu believes that China’s disadvantage in computing power will not be permanent.
Xu emphasized that compute power is a commodity and, in the long run, the gap will be closed.
In addition to Huawei and Biren, Moore Threads Intelligent Beijing Co. is another chipmaker that has demonstrated potential in the field of AI. Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Moore Threads’ CEO during a tour of China’s leading AI and chip manufacturing companies in March. The tour included visits to Baidu Inc., a prominent AI developer, and Naura Technology Group Ltd., a chip manufacturing equipment provider.