Artificial Intelligence and the People's Liberation Army
Beijing is ramping up efforts to use artificial intelligence to bolster its military capabilities β a key modernization goal central to its preparation for "intelligentized" (ζΊθ½ε) warfare. By analyzing Datenna's unique dataset of over 850,000 PLA military procurement records since 2020, this report identifies four key themes in the PLA's systematic acquisition of AI-enabled technologies, and profiles the entities winning those bids.
What's inside
1,617 PLA procurement tenders flagged under 'smart' (ζΊθ½) and 'intelligence' (ζΊζ §) keywords since 2020 β spanning infrastructure security, information gathering, training, and intelligent combat systems
Infrastructure Security: Hunan GEOSUN Hi-technology won 7 of 9 military bids for China's 'Wisdom Rock' intelligent security programme β with university links to the Chinese Engineering Academy
Information Gathering: Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CAS) won 12 of 19 PLA bids, with 18 cooperative agreements with Western institutions between 2014 and 2019
Intelligent Combat: Xi'an Jiaotong University won 82 of 114 bids β unlisted on any blacklist, yet leading the Silk Road University Alliance spanning 151 universities across 38 countries
No significant decrease in PLA AI chip procurement after 2022 US export controls β 2022β2023 tenders explicitly reference TPU, NPU, and AI accelerators
Full ownership mapping, procurement connections, patent analysis, and geolocation data in the complete report.
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