From batteries and solar panels to drones and satellites, China is building tech capabilities that extend well beyond AI, writes Steve Feldstein in his new book, “Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Big Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare.”

While China is engaged in a fierce struggle with the U.S. for AI supremacy, it is accelerating its development of other future technologies. In 2024, Chinese investors put nearly $1 trillion in clean-­energy capex for renewables, electricity grids, and energy storage. As a result, China now makes 70% of the world’s EVs, its companies are responsible for 80%–­85% of global solar photovoltaic manufacturing, and they oversee more than 75% of global battery production. Writes Columbia University scholar Tim Wu, “If we set AI aside for a moment and assume that these technologies represent the future, it is clear who is ahead.”

Other benchmarks reach a similar conclusion. Take, for example, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s “Critical Technology Tracker,” which analyzes China and the United States’ research capacity across ­74 current and emerging technologies. The latest data from December 2025 indicated that China led research in nearly 90% of crucial technologies, including nuclear energy, synthetic biology, and small satellites. The results revealed a “ drastic reversal ,” writes Xiaoying You in Nature . At the beginning of the century, American scientists held an enduring advantage in more than 90% of assessed technologies, with China leading in less than 5% of them; but in the intervening 25 years, Chinese researchers flipped the balance.

Source link