China puts on brave face amid US tech restrictions as it looks to next stage of internet development

Delegates at a conference to mark the 30th anniversary of China's connection to the internet put on a brave face amid US technology restrictions, highlighting the country's determination to become self-sufficient in artificial intelligence (AI) and future internet technologies.

The China Internet Conference, a three-day event that kicked off on Tuesday, features exhibits dominated by the mainland's state-owned enterprises, and speakers highlighting the country's achievements and advantages in internet development.

While China's internet in the past three decades was built on funding and technologies from the US, the country is pinning its hopes on local breakthroughs amid a bifurcation of the global technology sphere, according to speeches and displays at the show.

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Wu Hequan, a former vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a pioneer in developing China's communications network, said restrictions on the country's access to advanced chips were "having a certain impact", but the country can eventually overcome the obstacles by pooling its computing resources.

The 81-year-old engineer, who did not name the US, said the lack of access to "advanced foreign chips" could slow down the expansion of China's computing power - a key element in training generative AI models - but he added that China has already developed sufficient computing infrastructure to empower its AI ambitions. Wu noted that China was the world's No 2 computing power, only behind the US.

Four former industry ministers took part in the opening ceremony of the China Internet Conference in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: Ben Jiang alt=Four former industry ministers took part in the opening ceremony of the China Internet Conference in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: Ben Jiang>

Under Washington's export restrictions, US tech firms such as Nvidia are not allowed to sell their advanced products to customers in China, creating a hardware bottleneck for China's AI ambitions.

Shang Bing, the president of the China Internet Society, which organised the event, said the country could allocate more resources to research on AI chips to develop a "controllable" AI model ecosystem. Shang noted in his speech that the country had previously built up a network of over 3.8 million 5G stations across the country, covering more than 90 per cent of its population.

The country's major telecommunications network operators - China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom - set up spacious display booths at the event to showcase their offerings tailored for AI development. China Mobile, for instance, promoted its New Intelligent Computing Centre, which began development in 2022 to serve China's digitalisation efforts.

Zhang Dong, a deputy general manager at the telco, said the AI-powered internet will help promote China's "new productive forces", a phrase used by President Xi Jinping to describe economic development based on labour, technology and infrastructure.

At a forum dedicated to large language model development, Wang Zheng, an official with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the ministry will propel the integration of AI with the real economy.

Delegates from China's internet-based businesses also attended the show. Zhu Zheng, vice-president at Pinduoduo, the popular shopping app owned by PDD Holdings, said its overseas e-commerce push has helped Chinese factories reach overseas consumers.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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