Following former President Donald Trump’s announcement of a US$500 billion public-private initiative to advance artificial intelligence (AI) in the United States, China has responded with a surge of innovation in its AI sector. Chinese startups, notably DeepSeek, have disrupted advanced global AI practices with a distinctive "hacker spirit." Chinese online platforms and social media companies have previously caught up with and surpassed their U.S. counterparts, a trend now extending to the AI industry, partly attributed to Trump’s insular policies. Chinese firms are rapidly closing the gap with U.S. rivals by developing AI models capable of autonomous task execution with minimal human intervention. This includes a boom in AI agents inspired by startups like Manus, which has catalyzed a wave of ambitious Chinese startups such as Genspark and Flowith that follow a global playbook while adapting to local market conditions. Industry observers note that China is determined not to remain a follower in AI, with a growing number of promising startups emerging alongside DeepSeek. Meanwhile, innovation races continue in other regions, including Europe and the Nordics, but China’s AI ecosystem is gaining notable momentum in the global AI development landscape.