Media Mentions

TAG Associate Satya Sahu joins the Takshashila Institution’s “All Things Policy” podcast, discussing DeepSeek’s V4 model, China’s push to build AI capabilities on homegrown Huawei Ascend 950 and Cambricon chips without NVIDIA hardware, and what these developments mean for the larger U.S.-China AI and semiconductor competition.

The defence application of AI are immense. Almost everything will change – surveillance & reconnaissance, targeting, command and control, electronic warfare, and logistics. By monitoring fuel levels, equipment wear and tear, and supply chain vulnerabilities in real-time, AI enables a perfect just-in-time supply model.

“China enters the summit with genuine leverage, but also genuine concern,” said Han Lin, China Country Director of The Asia Group. For example, “the property sector crisis has hollowed out household wealth, and youth unemployment remains stubbornly high.”

Han Lin, China Country Director of The Asia Group, noted that “the very fact that both sides are engaging with each other is itself considered positive and helps to add a level of predictability, which lies at the heart of corporate planning.”

“It will be difficult to get the Chinese deeply involved under any circumstances,” said Kurt Campbell, a former deputy secretary of state during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and chair of The Asia Group. “They will want to be careful because they can see political quicksand as well as the next guy.”

Chips – along with Taiwan, the Iran war and other contentious issues – “will be managed, not resolved” at the meeting, said Han Shen Lin, China managing director for The Asia Group.

“China enters this summit with genuine leverage but also genuine urgency,” Han Lin, China country director at Washington-based consultancy The Asia Group, told AFP.

“The American collective psyche – with the exception of President Trump and a few business people – appears to have decided that there’s something inherently threatening about Chinese investment,” says Kurt Tong, a former US consul general in Hong Kong and managing partner at advisory firm The Asia Group.

“The priority at this point is having the summit take place, having the two of them meet face-to-face,” said Alison Szalwinski, vice president at the Asia Group. “And ensuring that U.S.-China relations are on stable footing. That’s the priority, even as Iran continues to loom.”

“What you’ll see is very deliberate warmth – firm handshakes, careful smiles,” said Han Lin, China Country Director, The Asia Group. “A good analogy is their Mar-a-Lago meeting in 2017. It’s an almost theatrical mutual respect between two men who each genuinely believe they’re representing history.”