China's AI strategy is proving more multifaceted than the West assumed—massive capital, radical efficiency, and physical-world ambitions are converging to challenge US dominance across the entire AI stack.

Evidence For

• DeepSeek has completed its first external funding round, raising over $7.4 billion at a valuation exceeding $50 billion. The structure is unusual: investors get economic rights but no voting power, with a five-year lock-up and no board seats, keeping...