Ask HN: Is the US losing to China in tech creation and production?
(Post created working with Gemini 2.5 Pro) In the latest tech news for 2025, I'm noticing concerning trends:
AI Models: Chinese companies like DeepSeek are gaining significant momentum in the open-source AI space[5]. Their models are becoming competitive with US offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic. Recent benchmarks show Chinese models performing exceptionally well in reasoning tasks[3][5].
Smartphones: The OPPO Find N5 released in February 2025 outperforms the iPhone 15 Pro Max in several key specs: larger 8.1" display vs 6.7", 16GB RAM vs 8GB, 5600mAh battery vs 4422mAh, and faster charging (80W)[2][4]. The OPPO Find X7 Ultra's camera system also ranks higher on DXOMark than the iPhone 15 Pro Max[6].
AR/VR: Chinese manufacturers are producing more affordable and feature-rich AR/VR glasses than US counterparts.
Is this just market competition, or are we witnessing a fundamental shift in tech leadership? What structural advantages does China have in tech creation and production that we should be learning from ?
Sources [1] The Best AI Models Ranked By REAL Performance Data 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP1v8X8MGtc [2] Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs OPPO Find N5 - specs comparison https://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Apple-iPhone-15-Pro-Max,OPPO-Find-N5/phones/11930,12625 [3] Comparison of AI Models across Intelligence, Performance, Price https://artificialanalysis.ai/models [4] Compare Oppo Reno 13 Pro 5G vs Apple iPhone 15: which is better? https://nanoreview.net/en/phone-compare/oppo-reno-13-pro-5g-vs-apple-iphone-15 [5] The Best AI Chatbots & LLMs of Q1 2025: Rankings & Data - UpMarket https://www.upmarket.co/blog/the-best-ai-chatbots-llms-of-q1-2025-complete-comparison-guide-and-research-firm-ranks/ [6] Camera Comparison: iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Oppo Find X7 Ultra https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/22/iphone-15-pro-max-vs-oppo-x7-ultra/ [7] An Opinionated Guide on Which AI Model to Use in 2025 https://creatoreconomy.so/p/an-opinionated-guide-on-which-ai-model-2025 [8] Apple iPhone 16e vs Oppo Reno 13 Pro comparison - Gadgets 360 https://www.gadgets360.com/compare-apple-iphone-16e-130887-vs-oppo-reno-13-pro-129420
It's not a shift; it's a trend of industrialization that has been going on linearly for almost 30 years. It's only become highly visible post-pandemic but has been decades in the making.
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Before Apple moved to TSMC, 95% of so called tech world has no idea what TSMC was. Even on HN.
In 10 - 20 Years time, most hardware will be free and subsided by Software. Because hardware is easy to copy and make while Software is infinite complexity. That is what I believe Bill Gate said in late 90s or early 2000.
And that has famously stuck with Silicon Valley ever since. No one gives a damn about hardware. iPhone was expected to start a trend ( or not for some ), the industry didn't expect Apple's iPhone to be as big, they all thought these expensive iPhone would only be 1 - 2% of the market.
There is no money in PC or hardware. Dell famously sold PC nearly at a loss and only earn money from Intel's marketing programme as well as preinstalled software.
It is precisely this idea the west has simply gave up on anything Hardware and all focus on either software or Hardware IP.
All while China went "ALL IN" with making Hardware. Not only do they have far more efficient Government, they also have far more subsidies. Take TSMC for example, if money wasn't a problem, how fast could you build a new Fab in US compared to Taiwan? Which for TSMC operate at similar level of efficiency compared to Chinese Government.
And US Government isn't even slow, try UK, EU, Canada or AUS.
Wait, how does that make sense to praise China by using TSMC as an example?
get used to it, that china will lead in several areas