China’s AI Firms Are Going Global Before Winning at Home

Chinese AI developers are increasingly shifting away from a domestic-first approach to build products and services for the global market from inception, pressuring Beijing to overhaul its institutional and policy frameworks to maintain the country’s edge, according to a former senior government official.

Speaking at the 2026 Inclusion Conference on the Bund in Shanghai Wednesday, Jiang Xiaojuan, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and former deputy secretary-general of the State Council, said China’s growing technological innovation and industrial competitiveness is driving this transition to native globalization.