Elon Musk has said China could overtake the United States in artificial intelligence, arguing that access to computing power, electricity, advanced chips and industrial capacity could determine which country leads the global AI race. Musk made the remarks during a conversation with The Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes. “Given that the Chinese AI companies are doing as well as they are with a relatively small amount of compute, it seems that if they had a lot of compute, there’s a good chance that they would be the leaders,” Musk said. Asked whether China could eventually lead, Musk said there was “a good chance.” He identified electricity, advanced computer chips and large-scale computing capacity as critical resources. China’s energy production and manufacturing capacity could give it an advantage, Musk said, adding that “China is very strong on robots, very strong on digital AI.” The comments come amid an intensifying technological rivalry, with the United States imposing restrictions on the export of some advanced semiconductor technology to China. Musk questioned whether export restrictions could permanently prevent China from developing its own capabilities, stating, “The US government can pass some law that prevents US companies from using Chinese models, but they can’t stop the rest of the world from using them.”