The U.S.-China summit held on May 14 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing was more than just a diplomatic event. It symbolized a shift in the 21st-century global order, indicating that the new power dynamics are now centered around AI, semiconductors, data, platforms, energy, and supply chains, rather than solely military and diplomatic relations.
Notably, the presence of prominent U.S. tech CEOs in the delegation led by President Trump drew significant attention. Leaders from major companies, including NVIDIA's Jensen Huang, Tesla's Elon Musk, and Apple's Tim Cook, joined representatives from BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Meta, Micron, Visa, Mastercard, and Boeing, effectively forming a 'technology supremacy delegation' in Beijing.
This contrasts sharply with Cold War-era summits, which primarily focused on nuclear weapons and military alliances. Today's U.S.-China discussions center on AI, semiconductors, platforms, data, supply chains, and advanced manufacturing. The core of global supremacy has shifted from “who has more aircraft carriers” to “who controls the strongest AI ecosystem and semiconductor supply chain.”
Trump's decision to bring U.S. tech leaders to China was not coincidental; it served as both a warning and a negotiation signal. The U.S. currently dominates the global AI industry in software and design capabilities. Companies like OpenAI, NVIDIA, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple maintain the strongest influence in AI algorithms, cloud computing, semiconductor design, and platforms. Notably, NVIDIA's GPUs are often referred to as the 'oil' of the AI era.
In this context, Jensen Huang's participation in Beijing is highly symbolic. A Taiwanese-American, Huang stands at the forefront of the AI revolution. NVIDIA is a dominant player in the AI training semiconductor market and symbolizes U.S. AI superiority. However, NVIDIA's long-term growth is challenging without access to the Chinese market, which is the world's largest manufacturing hub and a vast AI application market.
Trump is leveraging this reality, indicating that while the U.S. holds the core AI technologies, the market and manufacturing ecosystem remain crucial in China. Interestingly, private sector leaders participated directly in parts of the summit, a rare occurrence in diplomatic meetings traditionally reserved for diplomats and security officials. This reflects the reality that U.S. national competitiveness is increasingly intertwined with private technology firms.
The U.S. AI supremacy has not emerged solely from government efforts. It is the result of a massive ecosystem involving Silicon Valley, Wall Street, university research labs, the Department of Defense, cloud companies, and semiconductor firms. In essence, the U.S. is forming an AI supremacy structure that combines state and corporate power.
Conversely, China is also formidable. While it lags in foundational semiconductor technology, it excels in data scale, manufacturing application, and national-level investment. Companies like Huawei, SMIC, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are rapidly establishing an AI self-sufficiency system despite U.S. sanctions.
China's strength lies in its speed. While the U.S. operates on a free-market innovation model, China employs a total mobilization system. When deemed necessary, central and local governments, state-owned enterprises, and private companies act in unison. This concentrated nurturing model, demonstrated in high-speed rail, electric vehicles, and solar industries, is now being applied to AI.
Another critical difference is data. In the AI era, the key components are data, power, and semiconductors. China has accumulated vast amounts of data based on its large population and mobile ecosystem, combined with a cheap manufacturing base and a massive domestic market.
In contrast, the U.S. excels in creative innovation and foundational technologies. Companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and NVIDIA are shaping the direction of global AI technology. Thus, the current AI competition is not merely a technological race; the U.S. is strong in 'brainpower,' while China excels in 'scale and execution.' Both nations harbor fears of each other.
The U.S. is wary of China's potential success in combining manufacturing and AI application markets for technological self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, China is concerned about the U.S. leveraging its semiconductor, GPU, and cloud systems to stifle China's AI industry. Ultimately, the Beijing summit was not just about tariff negotiations; it represented a significant negotiation table concerning the power structure of the AI era.
Where does South Korea stand in this landscape? South Korea occupies a uniquely delicate position. With Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix leading the memory semiconductor sector, it remains among the world's strongest. Additionally, companies like Naver, Kakao, LG AI Research, and Samsung Research are developing their own AI ecosystems.
However, the challenge lies in scale. The U.S. is strong in platforms and foundational technologies, while China excels in markets and manufacturing. South Korea is strong in semiconductors but relatively weak in platforms and large-scale AI ecosystems. Nevertheless, there are significant opportunities for South Korea.
First, there is AI semiconductors. The core of the AI era is computational power, and AI cannot exist without memory semiconductors. South Korean companies are among the best in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) sector.
Second, there is manufacturing-based AI. South Korea has a robust industrial base in automobiles, shipbuilding, batteries, semiconductors, and robotics. In the realm of 'industrial AI,' South Korea can aim for a top-three position globally.
Third, there is culture and soft power. In the AI era, data is not the only important factor; content and culture also matter. The global influence of K-pop, K-dramas, and K-content may become vital assets in future AI training data and digital platform competition.
Ultimately, the future world will not be driven solely by military supremacy. It will be an era where AI, semiconductors, data, platforms, culture, energy, supply chains, and finance form a vast network. The participation of U.S. tech companies in Trump's visit to China underscores this reality. They are not merely business leaders but 'technology generals' at the forefront of 21st-century American supremacy. The scenes at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing mark a historical moment, signaling that the world has entered an era of AI Cold War.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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