In this conversation, the FT’s John Thornhill and MIT Technology Review’s Caiwei Chen consider the battle between Silicon Valley and Beijing for technological supremacy.

A fter a months-long trade war between China and the United States, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet Thursday in Korea. Both countries seem to be angling for a truce; over the weekend, they announced a “framework” for a possible agreement.

China's state-owned defense giant Norinco in February unveiled a military vehicle capable of autonomously conducting combat-support operations at 50 kilometres per hour. It was powered by DeepSeek, the company whose artificial intelligence model is the pride of China's tech sector.

Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said that maintaining the US edge in artificial intelligence will require a steady approach that ensures China remains hooked on American technology.

The surge in the valuations of AI-related stocks has been particularly marked for Chinese chipmakers. Shanghai-listed Cambricon Technologies trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 506.2 and SMIC trades on 221.3 times earnings, compared with Nvidia’s multiple of 57.7 times. TSMC, the world’s largest chip foundry, trades on 24.7 times earnings.

I worry that the U.S. is falling behind China in the quest for AI dominance. And in the quest for quantum superiority. And in many other strategic areas of scientific discovery. But these gaps won’t be solved by tech companies asking the government to build more power plants.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang urges the US to stay engaged with China in the global AI race, warning that isolation could hurt innovation and long-term leadership.

Lenovo launches Visual AI Glasses V1 in China with microLED displays, built-in teleprompter, voice assistant and navigation support