OpinionDonald Trump and the Republicans’ hatred of California may crush Silicon Valley’s advantages over China

Robert Delaney says those sure that the US ‘free market’ approach beats China’s state-led tech strategy should worry that California, home to Silicon Valley, remains a favourite target of Republican disdain

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Published: 2:02am, 18 Sep 2018Updated: 6:18am, 18 Sep 2018

There’s a lot of fretting in the United States these days about whether China is close to surpassing America in terms of technological innovation.

The question resonates because the stakes are so high. The winner in this race will have more influence over how the global economy develops, and ultimately how wealth and power are created and distributed. The innovation labs at tech companies large and small are the battlefields on which the clash of civilisations is playing out.

Ideally, Washington and Beijing would understand that the most sensible way forward is through extensive cross-border investment and collaboration, with the national security risks inherent in such exchanges kept in check through well-defined and reasonably transparent government reviews.

But let’s not kid ourselves. Paranoia and toxic politics will most likely keep such efforts from prevailing.

Which brings us back to a broad geopolitical competition, pitting the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley against those in Shenzhen and Zhongguancun. China is either decades away from, or right on the heels of, Silicon Valley when it comes to leveraging artificial intelligence and other game-changing innovations, depending who you ask.