Joint Strider, SCSP Report Reveals PRC’s Expansive, State-Directed Effort to Gain Enduring Asymmetric Advantage in AI

The PRC is rapidly advancing its goal to dominate global artificial intelligence (AI) through infrastructure expansion, military-civil fusion, and targeted overseas engagement

Washington, DC (May 29, 2025) – Strider Technologies, Inc. (“Strider”), the leading provider of strategic intelligence, along with the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a non-partisan, non-profit initiative dedicated to strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI), today released a new report detailing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is advancing its global AI ambitions through a coordinated, state-directed campaign that merges commercial growth with military modernization and international engagement.

The joint Strider–SCSP report, China’s AI Infrastructure Surge: How PRC Data Centers and AI Models Bridge Military Ambitions and Global Connections, documents for the first time how the PRC has launched a sweeping nationwide buildout of more than 250 specialized AI data centers to reach its 2025 goal for the computing power needed to run advanced AI systems at scale. Strider and SCSP’s findings reveal that China’s actual processing capacity far exceeds official targets, indicating a much broader and longer-term infrastructure campaign.

“This report should serve as a strategic warning to the United States and its allies,” said Greg Levesque, CEO and Co-Founder of Strider. “The CCP is executing a national campaign to achieve AI superiority as a cornerstone of its geopolitical strategy—one that fuses economic power, military modernization, and global influence. China’s AI infrastructure is not just a domestic capability—it’s a platform for reshaping global power dynamics and setting the standards for the future of artificial intelligence. Strider’s research with SCSP highlights how the PRC is leveraging state resources and international engagements to build a generational advantage in AI.”

“This report isn’t just a finding; it’s a strategic warning for the United States and our allies. China isn’t just developing AI; they’re executing a national campaign to achieve AI superiority. This is a core part of their global strategy, weaving together economic power, military strength, and worldwide influence,” said SCSP President Ylli Bajraktari. “For the U.S. to remain competitive, AI infrastructure must be at the center of our national security strategy.”

In addition to providing information on the massive scale of the PRC’s AI efforts, the report identifies 856 PRC stakeholder organizations involved in the country’s AI data center buildout, including 318 direct stakeholders and their parent companies/owner companies. The report reveals that 88 of the 856 stakeholder entities involved in the PRC’s AI data center buildout have at least one documented tie to either the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the PRC’s defense industrial base, or U.S.-sanctioned organizations—suggesting that the PRC’s AI buildout was intended to serve military objectives from the beginning.

The report also outlines how the PRC is aggressively subsidizing hardware and software through national policy mandates, local financial incentives, and international collaboration. New technologies such as “embodied intelligence”—machines that can perceive and interact with the outside world in real-time—are already being integrated into PLA operations, with implications for surveillance, unmanned systems, and cognitive warfare.

Additional findings include:

• Rapid Data Center Growth: Of the 207 Strider-identified AI data centers owned by a PRC organization, more than half (106) are operational. The number of both announced and operational data centers grew by over 100% from 2023 to 2024, reflecting how quickly the PRC is building to support AI scale and deployment.
• Foreign Software Dependencies: PLA-linked data centers rely heavily on U.S. and allied software, showcasing the need to develop a targeted export control and licensing regime for critical software tools like those used in AI model training, data center operations, and systems integration.
• Current International Connections: Of the 318 direct AI data center stakeholder entities, 28 have collaborated on AI research since 2017 with an organization based in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or Japan. Of those 28 stakeholders, 18 have also collaborated with PLA-affiliated research institutes on AI research. Additionally, of those 318 direct AI center stakeholders, Strider identified 13 that also have an overseas footprint in a Five Eyes country or Japan. This overlap demonstrates how international research channels can unintentionally support PRC AI development.

The full report can be found here.

About Strider

Strider is the leading strategic intelligence company empowering organizations to secure and advance their technology and innovation. Leveraging cutting-edge AI technology alongside proprietary methodologies, Strider transforms publicly available data into critical insights. This increased intelligence enables organizations to proactively address and respond to risks associated with state-sponsored intellectual property theft, targeted talent acquisition, and third-party partners. Strider has operations in 15 countries around the globe with offices in Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, London, and Tokyo.

About SCSP

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