US China tech war is most likely known as rivalry between the United States, and China has shaped global technology for years, but the split has grown sharper since Washington began tightening restrictions on advanced chips. These rules were aimed at slowing China’s progress in artificial intelligence, yet they’ve also done something nobody quite expected: they helped elevate a once-quiet Chinese chip designer into one of the richest figures in the country’s tech world.
China’s AI sector has been racing ahead despite export bans, and some companies have turned the geopolitical squeeze into momentum. One striking example is the surge of interest in Cambricon Technologies, a homegrown AI chip maker whose valuation jumped sharply this year. That rise pushed its co-founder, Chen Tianshi, into the ranks of the extremely wealthy—an outcome that would not have been obvious a few years ago.
The story of how sanctions reshaped his fortunes says a great deal about the new direction of Chinese AI companies, the cost of technology decoupling, and the way the two superpowers are now building entirely separate digital futures.
A New Phase in the US–China Tech War
When the US blocked the sale of high-end processors used for training large AI models, the move hit Chinese firms immediately. Companies that relied on American chips suddenly found themselves scrambling for replacements. It was a blow, but it also produced a very real urgency inside China to build alternatives quickly.
That urgency benefited local suppliers. Firms creating AI accelerators, inference chips, and custom processors suddenly found themselves at the center of national strategy. Cambricon was one of them. With American hardware harder to obtain, domestic demand for Chinese chips rose sharply. Investors took note, and local governments poured support into companies that could fill the gap.
In other words, the sanctions didn’t just restrict China—they reshaped the market in a way that helped certain companies rise much faster than expected.
Cambricon’s Rapid Climb and Chen Tianshi’s Expanding Fortune
Cambricon had been around for years, mostly known among engineers and insiders. But sanctions pushed the entire chip sector into the spotlight. The company’s valuation soared as interest in local substitutes grew, and that rise reflected directly on Chen Tianshi’s wealth.
Chen, once a researcher deeply immersed in chip architecture, is now discussed in global finance circles for a very different reason: his fortune is now measured in the tens of billions. For many people watching the sector, the natural question was, How did a sanctions environment make someone richer?
The answer is partly market pressure, partly policy, and partly timing. Chinese companies that depend on AI chips needed a reliable domestic supplier. Cambricon had the technology and the ambition, and when foreign options became uncertain, the company became a natural fallback. Investors treated it not just as a business, but as a strategic asset.
A Protected Market Creates Its Own Champions
China’s tech environment is unusual compared with Western markets. The government treats certain industries—AI, chips, telecom—as pillars of national strength. That means when global conditions shift, local firms sometimes have a smoother path than people expect.
Huawei is a prime example. After facing sanctions years earlier, the company heavily expanded its chip research and AI strategy. That experience created a blueprint that newer companies, including Cambricon, are now following. When limits tighten, domestic innovation speeds up.
The question many analysts ask—Can Cambricon really compete with Nvidia?—may not be the right one. Nvidia’s global lead remains enormous, but the protected Chinese market gives local firms the breathing space to grow, improve, and survive without foreign rivals dominating sales.
It’s not a competition on equal footing. It’s a parallel track created by geopolitics.
China’s Broader AI Vision: The 2030 Roadmap
China has made it clear, that its long-term ambition is to be the world’s top AI country by 2030. That goal shapes the way resources are allocated, how companies are supported, and how talent is developed. It also shapes the urgency behind the chip push.
Everything from data centers to consumer AI products relies on hardware. A country cannot lead in AI while depending entirely on imported processors. Sanctions made that dependency impossible, forcing China to accelerate production of its own chips, software stacks, and training tools.
The rise of Chinese AI companies, therefore, is partly technological and partly structural. They’re growing in an ecosystem designed to help them succeed—even when external forces try to slow them down.
Investor Curiosity Rises: Can the Public Participate?
With all this attention, people have begun asking practical questions:
How to invest in Chinese AI chips?
Are these companies accessible to foreign investors?
Is the growth long-lasting or mostly caused by policy?
The answers aren’t simple.
Some Chinese chip firms trade on local exchanges, but access for overseas investors can be limited. Regulations differ, political risk is unavoidable, and financial transparency can vary. The potential rewards are real, but so are the risks—especially if the US China tech war intensifies.
Investors need to understand not only the company but the environment it exists in—a landscape shaped as much by policy as by technology.
Can Domestic AI Firms Keep Their Momentum?
This is the question hanging over the entire industry. Chinese AI chip makers benefit from a massive market, strong state backing, and surging demand. But they also face challenges:
- Competing globally without Western partnerships
- Building chips without access to the most advanced lithography tools
- Meeting performance standards set by companies like Nvidia
- Overcoming supply-chain gaps
China’s protected market gives these firms a powerful starting point, but long-term success requires breakthroughs that go beyond geopolitics.
A Future Defined by Two Separate AI Ecosystems
One of the biggest takeaways from the sanctions era is that the world is gradually splitting into two technological systems. The United States and China are each building their own AI supply chains, chips, platforms, and ecosystems, with very little overlap. That kind of parallel development hasn’t been seen since the Cold War.
But this time, the stakes are economic, not military. Whoever controls AI hardware, data centers, and software stacks will shape global innovation for decades.
Sanctions may have slowed China’s access to cutting-edge foreign chips, but they also sparked a domestic race, that produced new champions—and billionaire founders like Chen Tianshi.
Final Thoughts
The US China tech war isn’t just a geopolitical struggle. It’s shaping markets, fortunes, and the future of global innovation. When the United States tightened its grip on advanced chips, it expected to slow China’s momentum. Instead, it pushed China to double down on local development, lifting certain companies to heights no one predicted.
Chinese AI companies are growing faster, valuations are rising, and new ecosystems are forming. Chen Tianshi’s sudden rise is just one story in a much larger shift.
The real question now is not whether Chinese AI firms can catch up—it’s how far this technological split will go, and how much it will reshape the world.