China’s AI Chip Ban and Volkswagen’s Strategic Localisation

China’s recent decision to ban foreign AI chips from all state-funded data centres marks a major turning point in the global technology landscape. The directive, which requires all projects receiving government support to use only domestically manufactured AI chips, represents one of Beijing’s most assertive efforts yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure. Beyond national security or industrial policy, this move signals a determined shift toward technological sovereignty, a strategy to reduce dependence on Western technology and build an indigenous ecosystem capable of competing with global leaders.

Under the new guidance, projects that are less than 30% complete must remove installed foreign chips or cancel their purchase plans, while more advanced projects will be reviewed case by case. This policy is expected to hit major US chipmakers, including Nvidia, AMD, and Intel, particularly hard. Nvidia, once commanding 95% of China’s AI chip market, has reportedly seen that share collapse to zero in 2025. The exclusion of these firms from major state-backed projects effectively closes off one of their largest markets, while domestic players such as Huawei, Cambricon, MetaX, and Enflame stand to benefit from a rapid surge in demand.

AI and the New Industrial Divide

The directive also reveals the deepening divide in global AI development. While American tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI continue to pour billions into advanced AI infrastructure powered by Nvidia’s most sophisticated chips, Chinese firms face significant constraints under US export controls. Washington justifies these restrictions on national security grounds, warning that advanced chips could be used to strengthen China’s military capabilities. Beijing’s response, replacing foreign hardware with homegrown alternatives, is accelerating its domestic innovation agenda but also risks widening the gap in computing performance.

Nevertheless, China’s approach aligns with a broader pattern of industrial self-sufficiency. AI has become both a symbol and a tool of geopolitical competition: control over chip design, fabrication, and software ecosystems now equates to strategic power. Beijing’s decision thus represents not a retreat but renewal: redirecting capital, state support, and market access to ensure that domestic champions become globally competitive, even under continued Western restrictions.

Volkswagen and the Localisation Imperative

At the same time, Western multinationals are responding to these shifts by localising operations in China to secure their market positions. Volkswagen’s announcement that it will develop an in-house chip for its China models, in partnership with Horizon Robotics through its CARIZON venture, exemplifies this trend. The chip, expected to achieve between 500 and 700 tera operations per second (TOPS), will process data from vehicle cameras and sensors to power advanced driving functions. It is set to be produced using a three- to four-nanometre process, with the first models expected within five years.

Volkswagen’s move is both defensive and strategic. Facing growing competition from Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, the company aims to deepen integration with the local supply chain, leverage Chinese AI and semiconductor expertise, and reduce dependence on Western suppliers amid tightening export controls. Its partnership model demonstrates how global companies are being compelled to adapt to China’s new industrial architecture, one that prizes local innovation and strategic autonomy over foreign collaboration.

A Redefinition of Global Engagement

Together, China’s AI chip restrictions and Volkswagen’s localisation strategy highlight a profound redefinition of global engagement. The era of globalised, interdependent production networks is giving way to a fragmented system of regional ecosystems, where industrial policy, security strategy, and technological development are inseparable. Nations no longer compete for market share but for control over the building blocks of the digital economy: semiconductors, data, and artificial intelligence.

For Beijing, restricting foreign chips is a statement of intent: that China will not remain dependent on Western technologies for its digital future. For Western multinationals, partnerships such as Volkswagen’s with Horizon Robotics demonstrate an acceptance of this new reality, one that demands collaboration within China’s evolving technological framework rather than from outside it.

The global technology order is undergoing a structural transformation. As China accelerates its pursuit of AI independence and Western firms recalibrate their strategies to align with local ecosystems, a new model of globalisation is taking shape, one defined less by open exchange and more by strategic self-sufficiency. What was once an integrated global marketplace is fragmenting into parallel systems of innovation and control. The challenge for all major economies and corporations will be to navigate this dual reality: competing in a world that is both interconnected and increasingly divided.

Written By: 

*Cole Jackson

Lead Associate at BRICS+ Consulting Group 

Chinese & South American Specialist

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