In the battle for AI supremacy, China is only six months behind the U.S — but that means they’re winning, says former Google CEO

In the battle for AI supremacy, China is only six months behind the U.S — but that means they’re winning, says former Google CEO In the battle for AI supremacy, China is only six months behind the U.S — but that means they’re winning, says former Google CEO China’s cheaper and open weight AI models leave the more expensive, closed U.S. ones vulnerable to competition China may be winning the AI race from behind. As the former chief executive officer of Google, Eric Schmidt is well-positioned to assess the state of play between the U.S. and China in the battle for AI superpower status. Right now, he reckons China is about six months behind.

If that’s true, China is already winning because their models are either cheaper or free, and the vast majority of the world will adopt those. This troubling narrative was outlined by Schmidt during an interview on the podcast released Wednesday by the chief executive of Norway’s $2 trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, Nicolai Tangen. Schmidt led Google between 2001 and 2011, is now the chair and chief executive of an aerospace manufacturer called Relativity Space while also still investing in tech personally.

He still holds nearly 16% of Alphabet, according to FactSet, and Bloomberg reported he owns 1% of Anthropic, Copyright ©2026 MarketWatch, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 We have a $300,000 mortgage with a 2.75% interest rate. My husband says I’m crazy.

George Foreman’s lavish Texas estate with 50-car garage is listed for $6 million Honda bets big on hybrids with next-gen technology for 15 models by 2030 Why SpaceX’s stock is surging —and lifting the broader AI universe along with it AI stocks are probably in a bubble — but might be worth holding onto, says Citadel’s Ken Griffin Jules Rimmer is a markets reporter in London. Rimmer spent more than 30 years as a trader and stockbroker, starting at Salomon Brothers in the “Liar's Poker” era, taking in ING Barings, Jefferies and ending it in emerging markets at Investec. He hung up his headset and pivoted to journalism in 2021.

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