How China’s tech prowess could help it overtake India as ‘office of the world’
Beijing’s ambition to move up the value chain could see it becoming a major exporter of digital services, AI to global high-end providers
As Shanghai resident Adam Liu drives his new Mercedes CLA – a German-manufactured car he has long revered – this edition of the luxury vehicle is carrying another point of pride: a smart system hailing from his home country.
“To me, it’s a fusion of German meticulous craftsmanship and China’s smart digital core,” Liu said.
While carmakers traditionally procured components in-house or through joint ventures, Liu’s vehicle marked a shift: ByteDance, an external specialist firm, was contracted to deliver a complete, cutting-edge digital service.
The “world’s factory” aspires to move up the value chain as a high-end service provider, though it still lags behind India, known as the “office of the world”.
That ambition became clear in December, when Beijing pledged to cultivate internationally competitive service outsourcing leaders and upgrade digitalisation and intelligent services by 2030.