The West shouldn’t assume that China is lagging behind the U.S. and Europe on tech developments, Microsoft’s president and vice-chairman warned.
U.S-China tensions up to now few years have centered on the battle between the 2 nations for tech supremacy, culminating in a slew of export controls on critical technologies. Late last 12 months, China’s Huawei surprised the market with the discharge of a smartphone whose reviews indicated downloads speeds related to 5G, sparking speculation of an apparent chip breakthrough that defied U.S. tech sanctions.
Speaking on the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday, Microsoft’s Brad Smith told CNBC that “in some ways,” China is near or is even catching up on technology.
“I believe one in all the risks, frankly, is that individuals who don’t go to China too often assume that they are behind,” he told CNBC’s Karen Tso. “But once you go there, you are impressed by how much they’re doing.”
He predicted that Chinese and American corporations will probably be competing on technology into the distant future and urged U.S. and European corporations to collaborate to grow economies and convey latest advancements like artificial intelligence to the remaining of the world.
Microsoft CEO Brad Smith participates in a gathering at The Westin Palace Hotel, on 20 May, 2022 in Madrid, Spain.
Cezaro De Luca | Europa Press | Getty Images
Microsoft has operated in China since 1992, in keeping with the corporate’s web page, including through its largest research and development center outside the U.S. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last 12 months that the firm wasn’t focused on China as a domestic market, but that it provides services to Chinese corporations and has a more visible presence locally than do many other U.S. tech giants.
Asked about whether trade and tech transfers — or the movement of information, designs or innovations — with China will get more difficult as Washington transitions between the administrations of U.S. incumbent leader Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, Smith it was too early to know.
“The reality is, as an American technology company, we will do business in China only after we are offering a service that the Chinese government desires to have there, and the U.S. government wants us to bring there,” he said, adding, “And in some cases they appear at, say, an information center to support a Mercedes or a Siemens or a Starbucks or a General Motors — there appears to be a level of comfort. In consumer services, probably not.”
He predicted that we’ll live in a world where some technology will move to China, and it won’t be the tech firms that resolve.
—CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this text.
