How Washington keeps helping China catch up in AI | Luisa Rodriguez

China’s best models are only six months behind America’s, despite having far less computing power. How is that possible?

Luisa Rodriguez investigates, and finds that much of China’s progress is made by using American chips and copying American models:

1. US rules stop NVIDIA selling its best chips to China. But Chinese companies can still rent those same chips in data centres abroad.
2. Smugglers go to extreme lengths to sneak chips into China.
3. Chinese AI companies copy America’s best models on an industrial scale.
4. Today’s most powerful technological secrets are protected by alarmingly inadequate security.

The US could tackle these gaps with powers it already has. So the current situation, with China only months behind, is largely a policy choice.

If the main argument against slowing down is that China might catch up, none of this quite adds up.

Four days after recording this, NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang — who features in the video as one of the loudest voices against restricting China’s access to chips — admitted to having an affair with an alleged Chinese spy. This shows just how badly China wants American chips.

Closing these gaps in US AI policy could buy time to test new models and hold back those that aren’t safe. Before we accept that the US has to race ahead, it’s worth asking who benefits from racing, and what’s currently being given away.

This episode was recorded on November 4, 2026.

Links to learn more, video, and full transcript: https://80k.info/china-chips

Chapters:

• Update: since we recorded (00:00:00)
• Everyone said China had caught up (00:00:30)
• Who’s building China’s AI? (00:01:50)
• How far behind is China? (00:03:20)
• Why can’t China make its own chips? (00:04:40)
• So where do China’s chips come from? (00:06:24)
• How do you copy an AI? (00:10:35)
• China is running a different race (00:12:34)
• Why a bigger lead matters (00:15:30)
• Could the US widen the gap? (00:16:51)
• What if China just steals the models? (00:21:12)
• So can the US slow down? (00:24:53)

Our production team includes:

• Video editors: Josh Alward, Dominic Armstrong, Jasper Luithlen, Milo McGuire, Luke Monsour, Simon Monsour, Ollie Bignell, and Andrés Escobar
• Producers: Elizabeth Cox and Nick Stockton
• Coordination and support: Katy Moore and Lou Moran
• Camera operator: Dominic Armstrong