China's defense industry is rapidly integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI), including technology from the domestic firm DeepSeek, to gain a military advantage, according to a Reuters review of documents.
State-owned defense giant Norinco showcased this effort in February with the unveiling of the P60 autonomous military vehicle, capable of combat-support operations at 50 kph, powered by DeepSeek's AI model.
This is part of a "systematic effort by Beijing to harness AI for military advantage," with progress being made in areas like autonomous target recognition and real-time battlefield decision support, mirroring U.S. efforts.
Procurement records and patents indicate that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and its affiliates continue to seek and use Nvidia chips, including models under U.S. export controls like the A100 and H100.
While Nvidia states the use of old, second-hand restricted products doesn't raise security concerns, patents as recent as June show their use by military-linked research institutes.
Furthermore, the PLA has reportedly increased its use of contractors that claim to rely exclusively on domestically-made hardware, such as Huawei AI chips.
This aligns with a public push by Beijing for domestic tech usage, although the full extent of the shift could not be independently confirmed by Reuters.
