China's deepening civilian, military AI ties pose challenge to US

China’s growing civilian defence AI ties, backed by hundreds of civilian companies and universities outside the traditional defence technology network, may pose a major challenge for the US, an American think tank warned.

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The analysts warned that the US could also end up being “ill-positioned to navigate the challenge of a China equipped with improving technological capabilities and a seemingly more agile defence industrial base”. China has been pushing a strategy of “military-civil fusion” as part of ambitious goals to modernise the PLA by 2035 and have “world-class” armed forces by 2049.

According to the report, China’s military has moved beyond suppliers like state-owned enterprises and defence-affiliated research institutions — though their contributions remain substantial. It said the PLA was instead increasingly turning to hundreds of nontraditional firms and universities for AI-related military goods and services.