Newsweek//How China Is Using AI To Win Future Wars

By Micah McCartney

China is accelerating its push to integrate artificial intelligence into military operations, aiming to gain a decisive edge over the United States in the event of a future Pacific conflict with its strategic rival—such as over Taiwan.

U.S. officials warn that Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be capable of moving against the island democracy by 2027.

Analysts say Beijing aims to boost the PLA’s capabilities, using AI to enhance battlefield awareness and decision-making, while leveraging advances from civilian sectors into military applications through its well-established civil-military fusion pipeline.

Experts caution that achievements such as drone swarms could gradually erode U.S. naval and air dominance in the region.

Chinese officials insist this modernization is defensive and accuses the U.S. of “hegemonic” interference. But American officials say the PLA is moving fast toward its goal of a “world-class military” by 2049.

Export Controls

Concerns that these advances could tip the balance in a Taiwan conflict underpin strict U.S. controls on advanced chip exports. Washington fears AI could enable faster targeting and coordination in high-intensity scenarios.

The Pentagon’s 2025 report on Chinese military developments, released last month, said this limited access has constrained China’s progress in AI development.

To overcome this chokepoint, Chinese firms and government agencies are pursuing multiple strategies—from optimizing older chips to stockpiling hardware and investing heavily in domestic semiconductor production, the document said.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei promised the Chinese leader that a coalition of Chinese companies will indigenize 70 percent of the semiconductor value chain by 2028, aligning with Xi Jinping’s campaign for technological self-reliance.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Department of State by email with requests for comment.

How China Is Gaining on the U.S.

China’s defense ecosystem has been expanding beyond state-owned giants. Universities and private firms are increasingly winning PLA contracts, reflecting Beijing’s civil-military fusion strategy.

A study released in September by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology analyzed more than 2,800 PLA AI-related contracts from 2023–2024, revealing hundreds of awards to civilian institutions. These range from algorithm development to autonomous vehicle systems.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University alone has won several defense contracts related to AI systems, including one to realize a concept it developed—automated “kill webs” in which weapons deployed to maritime battle zones can adapt to changing conditions. Another project involved a system for tracking rapidly moving targets through multiple layers of AI models, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“The apparent diversification of China’s AI-related defense industrial base presents several challenges. It may complicate the United States’ ability to limit China’s military modernization by restricting certain legacy defense players’ access to critical technologies and funding,” the Georgetown report’s authors wrote.

The Top-Down Advantage

China’s top-down system also gives it structural advantages.

At the Reagan National Defense Forum last month, Under Secretary for Research and Engineering Emil Michael warned that Beijing can “connect data sets in ways we can’t do as fast” and mobilize talent at scale. The Chinese […] when they make something a national priority, they can dictate top down. That could cause a lot of action,” he added.

“They’re going to be developing their own indigenous chipsets with Huawei,” he said. “Hopefully that doesn’t catch up too quickly to the latest NVIDIA chips.”

Those chips—NVIDIA’s H200 GPUs—were cleared for export to China in December after former President Donald Trump reversed earlier restrictions. The move shocked lawmakers and raised questions about how fast Beijing can close the gap.

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URL: https://www.newsweek.com/how-china-using-ai-win-future-wars-11304436