Call to do better with chips and put AI everywhere is more than rhetoric because China’s scientists are sprinting ahead

China’s government has again made reducing reliance on imported digital technology a major goal.

The renewed push came at the “Two Sessions”, China’s parliament that sits for just two weeks each year, and convened this week. One of the big moments at the Two Sessions is the delivery of the annual Government Work Report by the nation’s Premier, China’s second-ranking official.

Premier Li Qiang delivered the report, and according to Chinese state media, emphasized “the need to accelerate self-reliance in high-level science and technology.”

Li set that goal against a background of what he described as “unilateralism and protectionism escalating abruptly” – almost certainly a reference to Trump administration trade policy – and after hailing China’s recent advances in fields including “independent chip research and development.” The premier also mentioned that China’s output of integrated circuits rose by 10.9 percent last year and offered his ...