Guangdong has named Huawei Technologies’ artificial intelligence chips and HarmonyOS operating system as flagship achievements in China’s drive for technological self-sufficiency.
The push by China’s wealthiest province – whose gross domestic product is larger than that of South Korea – to highlight home-grown innovation came as local governments faced mounting peer pressure to support Beijing’s strategic goals.
Guangdong, which includes the tech hub of Shenzhen, suffered a bruised ego earlier this year when DeepSeek, the country’s AI poster child, turned out to be based in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, even though its founder Liang Wenfeng hailed from Guangdong.
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At a press conference hosted by the provincial government on Wednesday, officials responsible for technology development reeled off a long list of figures to underscore that Guangdong was keeping pace with – and in some areas leading – China’s science and technology race.
Wang Yueqin, head of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, said the province had remained China’s top innovation hub for the ninth consecutive year in 2025.
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Wang cited Huawei’s Ascend 910C chips, rolled out earlier this year to help reduce China’s reliance on Nvidia’s products, as a key example.
The processors had helped the country “overcome foreign embargoes”, she said, in an apparent reference to US export controls on advanced chips.