The long-held leadership of the US in artificial intelligence is now facing a serious challenge. According to the Stanford AI Index 2025 report, China has dramatically closed the technical gap with the US in just one year — achievements once considered unattainable are now a reality for China.
Why Does It Matter?
The US is still ahead in the number of models: According to the Epoch database, it will develop 40 significant models in 2024, while China has 15 models.
However, China has now proven that model quality is no longer a privilege exclusive to the US. This is also the case for the 21st century. Artificial intelligence, one of the most strategic technologies of the century, is changing global balances.Situation in Numbers
- In January 2024, the best chatbot model in the US was outperforming the best in China by 9.26%.
- As of 2025, this difference has fallen to only 1.7%.
- This convergence; It is also seen in fields such as logical inference, mathematics and programming.
DeepSeek Example
Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the industry in early 2025.
While Google spent $192 million to train its Gemini 1.0 Ultra model, DeepSeek claimed to have achieved similar results with only $6 million — which caused a great stir in the media and the market.
Two Different Strategies
USA:
- Scale and capital power It relies on
- Private investments in 2024: $150 billion
- Home to the world’s most valuable AI companies
China:
- Productivity-focused is progressing
- It produces fewer models but achieves similar success at a much lower cost
However…
The US is still dominant in many key areas:
- The most effective and innovative models generally come from American companies
- The majority of global investments still go to US-based companies
Meanwhile, Europe is falling behind:
- Only three significant models were produced in 2024
- All three are of French origin and generally associated with the Mistral company
The Big Picture
This race is actually part of a larger battle for control of the digital economy.
China, with its efficiency and cost advantage, has shaped the field of artificial intelligence that the US has dominated to date. The “big investment = big success” model has begun to be questioned. While the US tries to maintain its leadership with money and power, China aims for the same success with less.
This indicates that a new era has begun in global technology competition.
