The West mustn’t assume that China is lagging behind the US and Europe in technological developments, warned the president and vice chairman of Microsoft.
Tensions between the U.S. and China in recent times have centered on the struggle between the 2 nations for technological supremacy, culminating in a series of export controls on critical technologies. At the tip of last 12 months, the Chinese company Huawei surprised the market by releasing a smartphone whose reviews pointed to download speeds related to 5G. sparked speculation of an apparent chip breakthrough that defied US technology sanctions.
Microsoft's Brad Smith told CNBC on Tuesday on the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, that China is “in many ways” near and even catching up with the technology.
“I think, frankly, one of the dangers is that too often people who don't travel to China assume that they're behind,” he told CNBC's Karen Tso. “But when you go there, you’re impressed by how much they do.”
He predicted that Chinese and American firms will proceed to compete in technology within the distant future and called on US and European firms to work together to stimulate the economy and convey recent advances akin to artificial intelligence to the remaining of the world.
Microsoft has been operating in China since 1992. in line with the corporate's websiteincluding its largest research and development center outside the USA. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last 12 months that the corporate was not focused on China as a domestic market, but that it provided services to Chinese firms and had a more visible presence locally than many other U.S. tech giants.
Asked whether trade and technology transfers – or the movement of information, designs or innovations – with China will turn out to be harder as Washington transitions between the administrations of incumbent U.S. leader Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, Smith said it’s it's still too early to know.
“The truth is that as an American technology company, we can only do business in China if we offer a service that the Chinese government wants there and the U.S. government wants us to bring it there,” he said, adding adding: “And in some cases, for instance, they give thought to a knowledge center to support a Mercedes, a Siemens, a Starbucks, a General Motors – with consumer services there appears to be a certain level of convenience, probably not.
He predicted that we’ll live in a world where some technologies will move to China and it’ll not be the technology firms who determine.
image credit : www.cnbc.com