Why China Is Falling Behind in AI | by PKU Scholar Hou Hong

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This article was first made available to paid subscribers last week.To enjoy early access to select content and full access to Sinification’s archive, consider becoming a paid subscriber. As a non-profit, Sinification depends on your support.Subscribe nowToday’s article is introduced by Paul Triolo, Technology Policy Lead at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, where he advises companies on AI strategy. He is also a Non-Resident Honorary Senior Fellow on Technology at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Centre for China Analysis. Over the past year Paul has spoken directly with many of China’s leading AI firms, attended the World AI Conference in Shanghai in July 2025, and participated in an investor tour in October that included a wide range of major AI companies and industry players. He writes frequently on China and AI in his excellent Substack, AI Stack Decrypted. We are very grateful to him for bringing this first-hand expertise to this edition. — James and ThomasRecently there has been much debate within Chinese industry and academia over how the country stands with respect to the United States in developing and deploying AI. A recent commentary by Hou Hong, titled Personal insights on the US-China AI gap, falls on the side of a group, including within large Chinese AI companies, who hold that major structural issues will keep Chinese companies behind their Western, mostly US counterparts. They hold that especially as competition shifts from “who has the best model” to “who builds the strongest ecosystem for deployment and compounding usage”, Chinese companies will be at a…