As 2026 dawned, President Xi Jinping’s New Year’s address from Beijing struck a triumphant chord, timed impeccably with China’s strengthening global position. In a prime-time TV slot reaching 1.4 billion, Xi conveyed not just optimism but concrete victories over U.S. tech sanctions.
Central to his oratory was resilience against chip prohibitions from Biden-Trump eras, designed to block advanced AI chips from firms like Nvidia. Yet China has flipped the script. Xi touted top-tier AI models and chip breakthroughs, dubbing his nation among the world’s quickest to innovate.
Real-world wins abound: DeepSeek’s R1 model electrified the industry as an OpenAI foe, cratering Nvidia stock 17%. Chinese chip outfits prosper, birthing tycoons like MetaX founder Chen Weiliang.
‘Barriers breed breakthroughs,’ Xi implied, transforming trade woes into autonomy engines. With international tides turning pro-China, the speech doubles as a global communique.
Analysts see it as morale booster and deterrent. In tech’s high-stakes arena, Xi’s words herald Beijing’s ascent, where sanctions stoke rather than stall progress, reshaping global power dynamics.