But it's part of a wider trend.

Chinese apps are rising up the charts around the world.

TikTok, CapCut, Xi'an, Timu, to name a few.

And it's not just on our phones.

China is becoming dominant in many other areas of tech.

Look at cars.

It's overtaken the previous epicentres of motoring, more than any other country, thanks to hit electric car makers like BYD.

A lot of this success comes from China being the world's biggest battery maker now, too.

And solar panels.

China's responsible for an estimated 80 to 95% of the global supply chain.

By 2028, it's predicted that 60% of the world's renewable energy will be generated in China.

In drones, too, China rules the skies.

Next time you hear that buzzing above your head, there's a 70% chance it's a DJI drone made in the city of Shenzhen.

Three of the world's top ten drone makers are Chinese.

In the futuristic world of quantum computers,

Chinese scientists publish more quantum-related research papers annually than any other country.

And they're even ahead of the general leaders, the US, in some areas of quantum computing development.

And it's the same picture in AI.

Chinese AI firms now issue more patents than any other country.

And the rise of DeepSeek shows it's capable of challenging the dominant US giants with products, too.

So how has China done all this?

Well, it's all part of a long-term plan.

In 2015, the Chinese government set out an ambitious project called Made in China 2025.

It wanted to move away from being the world's factory for low-cost goods to a global tech leader responsible for its own supply chain of cutting-edge tech.

Made in China 2025, in my opinion, was largely successful.

So in many industries, like China, it's catching up with the leading edge.

And in some industries, China is even leading, even in cars and 5Gs, batteries, solar energies.

Now, even in the AIGAI, China has become one of the players.

Across 10 target technologies, the plan set out more than 250 mini-goals.

And according to analysis from South China Morning Post, 86% of them have been ticked off.

Some targets, like electric vehicles and renewable energy production, have far exceeded the targets.

South China Morning Post is sometimes accused of being pro-China.

But Made in China 2025 has been hailed a success by many other analysts, too.

So how has China done it?

What China has been moderately successful at least, and some would say incredibly successful at doing, is using its sort of state-backed capitalism system, whereby the government really sets a research agenda, sets a funding agenda, bringing foreign researchers and enticing them to stay in China or at least to give their innovations and ideas over to Chinese companies, requiring businesses from outside of China oftentimes to set up joint ventures with Chinese ventures.

These are all sort of tools that China has used to help achieve these ambitions.

According to U.S. Congress research, the Chinese government planned to raise or spend $1.5 trillion on grants for research, development, or buying foreign companies.

According to the report, more than $627 billion had been spent by 2020.

Research centers sprung up in city hubs centered around various technologies.

Also, the U.S. and its allies have accused China of short-cutting some of its tech innovation by stealing intellectual property through hacking.

For example, U.S. aircraft makers. China has always denied this.

Made in China 2025 got so successful that after just a few years, the government stopped using the term as it was antagonizing rivals.

But it was too late.

Over the years, the West has imposed restrictions and sanctions on China regarding sensitive technologies.

But this huge external threat has weakened up the Chinese and kind of forced them to pursue a self-sufficiency strategy in this advanced technology.

There's an old saying in China, life always finds its own way out.

Huawei is a great example of this.

In around 2019, it was top of the world in 5G equipment.

It had a huge market share in mobile phones, too.

All of that took a major hit, though, when the U.S. led widespread sanctions against the company, citing national security concerns around spying.

Huawei's market share shrank, and it couldn't get the microchips it needed to keep innovating.

But it pivoted into microchip manufacturing and is now a major player in that, too.

In 2023, it released a phone with a microchip far beyond what the rest of the world thought was possible for the company or the country.

A similar situation happened with the viral new chatbot DeepSeek.

The firm says it couldn't get the most powerful chips to train its models, so it says it made do with older ones and innovated new techniques.

They built the impressive bot for far less money with far less kit.

For the U.S., it came as a shock.

DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.

TikTok, too, has taken the West by surprise.

It's the first non-U.S. social network to succeed in the last 10 years.

Its enormous success is under the spotlight, though, and under threat from potential intervention by the U.S. on national security grounds.

But Xi'an and Timu are proving worthy challenges in e-commerce now, too, thanks to combining China's cheap goods with innovative app technology.

But China hasn't succeeded in all its 2025 goals.

It's still years behind other countries in chip-making, with progress set to get even worse thanks to more sanctions and controls.

Plus, the U.S. government and private firms are throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into staying ahead in chip tech.

This increased research and development funding is going to ensure the United States leads the world in the industries of the future.

And in January, the U.S. celebrated a commitment from tech giants to invest a potential $500 billion into infrastructure for AI.

And it's all taking place right here in America.

Other industrialized countries like Germany and Japan have also launched counterplans, too.

But there's no doubt that a new high-tech leader has emerged with big ambitions, deep pockets, and plenty of patience.