Washington has been stepping up efforts to curb Beijing’s technological ambitions, but from artificial intelligence to electric vehicle batteries, Chinese technology is becoming increasingly embedded in the businesses of some of the world’s biggest companies.
Apple has tapped Alibaba and Baidu for AI in China, while Ford has turned to CATL for battery technology. Volkswagen has teamed up with Xpeng to develop smart EVs in China, while Stellantis is expanding its partnership with Leapmotor on EV production and joint purchasing.
Analysts say a broad shift is underway, with Chinese companies becoming sources of technology and innovation that global businesses cannot easily sidestep.
“Five years ago, China was primarily where global companies went to sell. Today, in certain sectors, it is where they go to source capability,” Kitty Fok, managing director at market research firm IDC China, told CNBC.
That development comes even as Washington has expanded efforts to restrain Chinese technology.
Since blacklisting Huawei in 2019, it has imposed sweeping curbs on advanced chips and chipmaking equipment, restricting certain U.S. investments in Chinese semiconductors, quantum technology and AI, and proscribing firms including contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC.
From market to technology source
China has built formidable positions across a growing number of technology industries.
Automakers including BYD, Changan and Chery accounted for nearly 63% of the global electric vehicle market in 2025, while battery makers including CATL, BYD, CALB and Gotion held close to 70%, according to Soumen Mandal, principal analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Mandal pointed to cost, scale, manufacturing depth, supply-chain integration and the speed of innovation as powerful reasons for global companies to continue engaging with Chinese firms.
“China’s technological rise is shifting from low-cost manufacturing to scale, supply-chain depth, and speed of innovation,” Mandal said, adding that global companies are maintaining a balance between geopolitical risk and commercial realities.
That shift is particularly advanced in electric vehicle batteries.
CATL has become deeply integrated into the global automotive industry. Ford, for example, is working with CATL to use its lithium-iron phosphate battery technology at a $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan.
Fok said the integration of Chinese EV battery technology into global supply chains can be difficult to unwind.
“In EV batteries, the structural shift is already complete,” she said. “Switching suppliers is not a procurement decision you make in a quarter. It takes years of engineering, testing, and recertification.”
For some companies, however, working with Chinese technology firms remains primarily about competing inside China.
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