China gains ground on US in hi-tech ‘tug of war’, as Beijing spends billions on national champions
- China’s global share of the advanced technology market leapt from less than 4 per cent in 1995 to 21.5 per cent in 2018, a new report says
- US market share declined from 24 per cent in 1995 to 22.5 per cent in 2018, with experts warning its competitive advantage is under threat
China has been gaining global market share in hi-tech industries at the expense of the United States, according to a new report, as the race for tech supremacy between the two countries heats up.
Measured across key seven sectors, China’s share of the advanced technology market leapt from less than 4 per cent in 1995 to 21.5 per cent in 2018, said the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) on Wednesday.
The sectors covered in the report include: IT and information services; computer, electronic and optical products; electrical equipment; machinery and equipment; motor vehicle equipment; other transport equipment; and pharmaceutical products.
The US saw its market share in the seven sectors decline from 24 per cent in 1995 to 22.5 per cent in 2018, the Washington-based think tank said.
In other words, the more ground China gained in these industries, the more the United States lost
Removing IT and other information services, America’s relative share of advanced industry production globally fell by nearly 16 percentage points from 96.2 in 1995 to 80.4 per cent in 2018, according to the ITIF’s Hamilton Index of Advanced-Industry Performance.
“We see this tug of war in the fact that there was a strong correlation between the change in the respective shares of global output that China and the United States held in advanced industries from 1995 to 2018,” said the report by ITIF, whose board includes representatives from US tech companies such as Meta, Amazon, Google and Intel.
“In other words, the more ground China gained in these industries, the more the United States lost.”