By Eduardo Baptista and Fanny Pitkin
Beijing / Singapore (Reuters) Defense Defense Defense Gianco in February unveiled a military vehicle capable of operating independently that conducts support operations at 50 kilometers per hour. It was powered by Deepseek, a private intelligence company that is the pride of China’s technology sector.
The release of Norinco P60 was released by Communist Party officials in press statements about how Beijing is using its arms race with the United States, at a time when leaders in both countries have called on their militaries to prepare for confrontation.
A Reuters review of hundreds of research papers, procurement records and procurement records provides a snapshot of a systematic effort by Beijing to integrate ai for military ai.
The details of how the systems behind China’s next-generation weapons work and the extent to which they are used are a state secret, but the procurement records offer Beijing’s development and funding of real-world military decisions in a way that provokes US efforts.
Reuters has not been able to find out whether all the products that have been developed and the patents do not show the technology in use.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its allies continue to use and monitor NVIDIA CHIPS, including models under US export controls, according to documents, tenders, tenders and patents.
Reuters could not find out if those chips were owned before Washington imposed the restrictions as the documents do not explain where the hardware was used. Patents filed as recently as June indicate their use by military research facilities. In September 2022, the US Department of Commerce banned the export of China’s popular A100 and H100 aircraft.
Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said in a statement that while the firm can’t track anything new, it uses any political concerns. “Renewing any prohibited concern, except for software, or repairs.”
The US Treasury and Commerce Department did not respond to questions about Reuters’ findings.
The Chinese military has also increased its use of contractors who say they only use hardware made before Huawei Ai Chips, analyzing hundreds of Washington Ai Chips tenders issued in the Plash Procurement network for more than six months this year.
Reuters could not independently confirm his acknowledgment but Shift will be in line with Beijing’s public crackdown on domestic firms to use Chinese-sourced technology.
A review by the news organization of notices of procurement and patents filed with the patent office of China found the demand and use of all the tenders seen by Jamestown, which issued a report this week to provide initially to Reuters.
Huawei declined to comment when asked about the military application of its chips. China’s Defense Ministry, Deepseek, and Norinco did not return requests for comment on their use of AI for military applications. Universities and defense firms that filed patents and research papers seen by Reuters also did not respond to similar questions.
Deep dependence
The use of Deepseek models has been shown in twelve tenders in the PLA races included this year and seen by Reuters, while only one shows Alibaba’s QWANA, a major domestic competitor.
Alibaba did not return a request for comment on Qwen’s military use.
Procurement notices have slowed down throughout 2025, with new military requests coming up regularly from the PLA network, according to Jamestown.
Senseeity’s popularity with the PLA also reflects China’s pursuit of what Beijing calls “algorithmic sovereignty” — reducing dependence on western technology while tightening control over critical digital infrastructure.
The US Department of Defense declined to comment on the PLA’s use of AI.
A spokesperson for the State Department said they were responding to the fraudsters’ questions that “the depth has voluntarily provided, and likely will continue to provide, support for China’s military and intelligence operations.”
Washington will “pursue a bold strategy, involving American AI technology and trusted foreign countries around the world, while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries,” said a spokesperson for the agency.
Dynamic Programming and Applications
China is looking at powerful robotic dogs with packs and drone swarms that track target targets, as well as virtual command centers and high-level documents, according to the documents.
In November 2024, the PLA released a Sci-Fi-Esque tender for powerful robot dogs that will detect threats and explosive hazards together.
Reuters could not confirm if the tender has been completed. China first shipped armed robot dogs from AI Robotics manufacturers.
Unitree did not respond to questions about its PLA operations.
A review of patents, tenders and research papers published in the past two years shows how the PLA and related organizations are looking to AI to improve the military’s analysis of satellites and drones.
Researchers at Landship Information Technology, a Chinese company that integrates military systems with military vehicles including Noranco Chips can identify radars that are quickly found in satellite images, while planning the operation of radars and aircraft to carry out operations.
The time taken by military planners to go from finding and identifying targets to conducting operations has been reduced by AI, according to Xi’an Technological University.
Investigators at that center said in a summary of their findings released in May that Deepseek-powered Sertures
Such a task would have taken a typical group of military planners 48 hours to complete, they said.
Reuters could not independently verify the researchers’ claims.
Independent weapons
China’s military is investing increasingly in private military equipment, documents suggest.
A dozen tenders and patents seen by Reuters show attempts by the military to integrate AI into drones so they can detect and track targets, as well as collaborate in construction with minimal human intervention.
Beihang University, known for its research on military aircraft, uses Deepseek to develop drone decision-making suspicions when targeting low-level, slow-moving “threats”, hit “annual warplanes.
China’s defense leaders have publicly pledged to maintain human control over its weapons programs amid growing concern that a conflict between Beijing and Washington could lead to the unrestricted deployment of AI munitions.
The US military, which is also investing in AI, aims to field thousands of autonomous drones by late 2025 in what officials say is an effort to combat China’s price war.
US Chips, China models
Chinese Defense Contractors such as Shanxi 100 Technology Co., Ltd. have been outsourced by outsourcing their reliability to domestically produced components such as Huawei’s Chips, which enable AI models to operate.
The firm did not respond to questions about its relationship with Huawei and the PLA.
Apart from moving to home processors, Nvidia Hardware continues to be paid more often in research by students associated with the military, according to a review of patent drawings from two years ago.
Reuters has identified 35 plans to use NVIDIA’s A100 chips through Aijing Technology and in the history of Beijing’s promotion.
Those companies simultaneously filed 15 patents related to AI applications targeting Huawei Ascender Hardware, which was designed as a replacement for NVIDIA CHIPS.
As recently as June, the PLA Rocket Force University of Engineering separately filed a remote sensing program, which uses A100 chips for model training.
In addition to Lol Zhu QiChao, who leads the Nudt research center last year when the US restrictions affected its research “to a certain extent,” although they are determined to reduce the technological gap.
Nvidia’s Rizzo played down Nvidia’s hardware demand plan, saying that China “has enough chips to run all of its military systems.”
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Fanny Pitkin; Editing by Brenda Goh and Katerina Ang)
