China’s race to get become technologically independent from the United States It is reaching the military sector. The military is accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence into its operations and most importantly: they are favoring national technologies. In the software, DeepSeek. In hardware, Huawei chips.
what’s happening. the chinese army is using AI to support strategic decision making and target detection. According to an analysis of Reutersseveral studies and patents suggest that they are also applying it in new vehicles such as robot dogs and autonomous drones, all prioritizing the use of national technologies, both in software and hardware.
Why is it important. China has already given steps to stop depending on Nvidiathe maker of the most powerful AI chips. This is one more step towards technological independence, but in a critical sector such as the military. The objective is to eliminate foreign influence in its defense infrastructure, just like the United States does.
Huawei chips. Speaking to Reuters, the defense policy expert Sunny Cheungassures that since the beginning of this year the Chinese military has increased the number of contractors that exclusively use national hardware. That is to say, AI chips made by Huawei. Although the military still uses Nvidia chips (it is not known if they were imported before or after of the blockade), there is a movement towards the use of own chips.
DeepSeek. At the beginning of the year, military experts in China assured that the military was testing DeepSeek integration. In May, researchers from Xi’an University showed a system based on DeepSeek capable of creating and analyzing 10,000 combat scenarios in just 48 seconds. Reuters analyzed several tenders awarded to various companies by the Chinese military and at least a dozen mentioned DeepSeek, while only one referenced Alibaba’s Qwen. It is clear which is the preferred model for the Chinese army.
Robot dogs and drones. The documents analyzed by Reuters also suggest that the Chinese military is integrating AI into autonomous vehicles such as robot dogs. It is no secret, in 2024 the army itself published a video promoting robot dogs who moved in packs to eliminate explosives and other threats. The robots in the video were from the Chinese company Unitree, but there are also other national companies dedicated to the manufacturing of these vehicles such as Norinco, which confirmed in a technical report that they use Huawei chips. On the other hand, Deepseek is also being integrated into drones to give them the ability to recognize and follow targets with hardly any human intervention.
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