Industrial Policy and Technology

Research and Insights

U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, attends a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, accompanied by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at Gimhae International Airport, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025.

EU-China

US-China

Trump-Xi trade truce gives Europe one last chance to finally de-risk from China

Antonia Hmaidi

Comment

Nov 07, 2025

Unitree Robotics and Tiangong humanoid robots compete in the 100m final at the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, China August 17, 2025

For China, "involution" is a blessing as well as a curse

Yanmei Xie

Comment

Nov 05, 2025

Interior of the SKYWORTH Y with a view of the large flat screen on the dashboard

Europe’s vehicle-data gap: How under-regulation gives Chinese carmakers an edge

Wendy Chang

Comment

Oct 29, 2025

Avoiding a race to the bottom: How the EU can counter Chinese export controls

Rebecca Arcesati

Comment

Oct 29, 2025

Wafer (Halbleiterscheiben) werden am 16.06.2017 in einem Gelbraum eines Wafer fabs (Halbleiterwerk) von Bosch in Reutlingen (Baden-Württemberg) auf mögliche Fehler kontrolliert

MERICS Forum: How can the EU navigate China’s rare earths export controls

Comment

Oct 24, 2025

People shop at Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing, China, Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

China’s economic policy holds line as growth weakens

Alexander Brown

Andreas Mischer

Economic Indicators

Oct 24, 2025

Deep dive: China's export controls (Geoeconomic Competition podcast)

Rebecca Arcesati

External publication

Oct 24, 2025

Shockwaves Made in China (IP Quarterly)

Mikko Huotari

Jacob Gunter

External publication

Oct 20, 2025

Workers use machinery to dig at a rare earth mine in Ganxian county in central China's Jiangxi province on Dec. 30, 2010.

Rare-earths export controls + Nexperia + Fourth Plenum

MERICS China Essentials

Oct 16, 2025

In this photo taken Tuesday, July 6, 2010, workers use machinery to dig at a rare earth mine in Baiyunebo mining district

What you now need to know about China’s expansion of REE export controls

Jacob Gunter

Altynay Junusova

Interview

Oct 15, 2025

The double-edged sword of semiconductor export controls: Electronic design automation (CSIS)

Altynay Junusova

External publication

Oct 06, 2025

A general view shows a handshake between a human and a humanoid robot at the Shanghai New Expo Center during the opening day of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2025 in Shanghai, China, on July 26, 2025.

China’s “AI+” drive aims for integration across sectors: a wake-up call for Europe

Wendy Chang

Comment

Oct 02, 2025

An excavator loads trucks with rare earth at a mine in Mojiang Hani Autonomous County, Simao city, southwest Chinas Yunnan province, 18 March 2008.

MERICS Data Insight: Critical minerals

Altynay Junusova

Comment

Oct 01, 2025

China’s rare-earths export controls hit EU rearmament – but open a strategic window

Niklas Hintermayer

Antonia Hmaidi

Comment

Oct 01, 2025

Beijing’s rare-earths export licensing system: delays by design?

Rebecca Arcesati

Altynay Junusova

Comment

Oct 01, 2025

China’s multi-purpose export controls raise pressure on Europe to derisk

Rebecca Arcesati

Jacob Gunter

Comment

Oct 01, 2025

high-performance neural signal recording and stimulation chip is pictured at the exhibition hall of "Xitou Qizhnao Smart Energy Science Innovation Center" in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province

Manufacturing metrology + Brain-machine tech + Tackling talent shortages

Alexander Brown

Andreas Mischer

MERICS China Industries

Aug 28, 2025

China’s rise in biotechnology, with Alexander Brown and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Podcast

Aug 18, 2025

China strebt nach Dominanz bei KI – mit Folgen für den Rest der Welt (Münchner Merkur)

Antonia Hmaidi

External publication

Aug 05, 2025

China’s rise to global tech leadership, with James Kynge

Podcast

Aug 01, 2025

The Evolution of "Made in China 2025" (The Diplomat)

Andreas Mischer

External publication

Aug 01, 2025

How China uses persuasive technologies for social control (7am Podcast)

Daria Impiombato

External publication

Jul 29, 2025

Chinese citizens look at home appliances. The Chinese government introduced trade-in programs on costlier household purchases like washing machines and fridges to lift consumption in Q2 2025.

Solid GDP growth in Q2 masks China’s challenges

Alexander Brown

Andreas Mischer

Economic Indicators

Jul 23, 2025

China’s drive toward self-reliance in artificial intelligence: from chips to large language models

Wendy Chang

Rebecca Arcesati

Antonia Hmaidi

Report

Jul 22, 2025

China aims for self-reliance in AI, with Wendy Chang and Antonia Hmaidi

Podcast

Jul 22, 2025

Robot toys are seen in Yiwu Wholesale Market in Yiwu, China

The trade-offs of innovating in China in times of global technology rivalry

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Jacob Gunter

Report

Jun 24, 2025

China in 25: China and the Israel-Iran war + Basic research + EU-China summit

Podcast

Jun 20, 2025

How China’s biotech is changing global ecosystems (Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission)

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

External publication

Jun 05, 2025

Workers assemble industrial robots at a robot manufacturer in Nanjing city in east China's Jiangsu province.

Beyond Made in China 2025 – China’s dream of broad-based industrial greatness

Alexander Brown

Max J. Zenglein

Comment

Jun 04, 2025

China’s overcapacities, with Max J. Zenglein and Jacob Gunter

Podcast

May 02, 2025

A billboard advertising U.S. beef at a supermarket in Beijing

China's economy improves as it braces for external shock

Max J. Zenglein

François Chimits

Economic Indicators

Apr 25, 2025

Workers make medical infusion sets for export at a workshop in Huai 'an City, Jiangsu Province, China

Lab leader, market ascender: China's rise in biotechnology

Alexander Brown

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Report

Apr 24, 2025

An illustration shows the Deepseek APP download page displayed on a smartphone.

DeepSeek’s success masks China’s weakening innovation model

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Comment

Apr 07, 2025

A staff member works at the State Key Laboratory of Public Big Data at Guizhou University.

Greater secrecy in science and tech makes China’s progress harder to decipher

Antonia Hmaidi

Comment

Mar 20, 2025

Google New York headquarters in New York City

Google antitrust probe puts Beijing’s software “nationalism” in the spotlight

Rebecca Arcesati

Comment

Mar 20, 2025

Busy production line of Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.

China advancing in drug discovery but needs foreign firms to get drugs to market

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Comment

Mar 20, 2025

Guo Guangcan 郭光灿, one of China’s pioneers in quantum computing

Comment

Mar 20, 2025

Despite Huawei’s progress, Nvidia continues to dominate AI chips market in China

Antonia Hmaidi

Comment

Mar 20, 2025

Workers debug smart mobile charging piles at Nantong Guoxuan New Energy Technology Co., LTD., located in Nantong High-tech Zone, East China's Jiangsu provincr

Beijing pushes for more efficiency in new energy sector

Wendy Chang

Comment

Mar 20, 2025

A staff member works in the data room of a supercomputing center in Gui'an New Area, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 29, 2024.

Data policy push + SME financing + Green hydrogen

Andreas Mischer

MERICS China Industries

Mar 12, 2025

Mikko Huotari on China and the new Silicon Valley of the car industry (F.A.Z. Podcast)

External publication

Feb 19, 2025

US swings boldly to block China’s AI progress, with fallout for other countries

Wendy Chang

Antonia Hmaidi

Comment

Feb 18, 2025

DeepSeek and the upcoming AI Action Summit, with Rebecca Arcesati

Podcast

Feb 07, 2025

A logistics center in Pilot Free Trade Zone in Heihe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province

China's GDP expands in Q4 but new growth drivers are needed in 2025

Alexander Brown

François Chimits

Max J. Zenglein

Economic Indicators

Jan 23, 2025

China’s economy in 2025, with Max Zenglein

Podcast

Jan 23, 2025

China and the race for quantum leadership, with Antonia Hmaidi and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Podcast

Jan 10, 2025

18 Humanoid Robot Vanguard Matrix are being displayed at the entrance of WAIC, World Artificial Intelligence Conference at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China, on July 5, 2024, during the first public viewing day (Photo by Ying Tang/NurPhoto).

China’s AI future in a quest for geopolitical, computing and electric power

Rebecca Arcesati

Comment

Dec 18, 2024

Peng Chengzhi (2nd L) and his colleagues talk about their research in front of the Zuchongzhi 2, a 66-qubit programmable quantum computing system, in Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Science in east China's Shanghai, July 22, 2023.

US-China competition could lead to sub-par quantum tech standards

Antonia Hmaidi

Comment

Dec 13, 2024

Construction workers install photovoltaic modules on the roof of Tongwei Electric Haian Co., LTD in Hai 'an, Jiangsu province, China, November 19, 2024.

Policymakers take first steps to curb overinvestment in solar manufacturing

Alexander Brown

Comment

Dec 13, 2024

A worker is producing semiconductor products at a semiconductor manufacturing enterprise in Binzhou, East China's Shandong province, June 4, 2024

Export control breach reveals China’s continuing struggle to produce high-end semiconductors

Wendy Chang

Comment

Dec 13, 2024

Profile: Shanghai AI Lab: Driving both AI safety and development

Rebecca Arcesati

Comment

Dec 13, 2024

actory flags of famous Chinese enterprises flutter in the wind under the blue sky in front of the square of the permanent site of the Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing, China, May 14, 2024.

Impatient for tech breakthroughs, the Communist Party is pushing aside private initiatives

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Comment

Dec 13, 2024

his combined photo shows China launching the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016.

China’s long view on quantum tech has the US and EU playing catch-up

Antonia Hmaidi

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Report

Dec 12, 2024

A worker produces new materials for high-end special-shaped anti-counterfeiting bottle caps at a workshop of Sihong Economic Development Zone in Suqian, Jiangsu province, China, November 13, 2024.

New materials big data system + New energy storage industry + Smart factories

Alexander Brown

Andreas Mischer

MERICS China Industries

Dec 04, 2024

New MERICS index: how internationally integrated is China's economy?

François Chimits

Report

Nov 21, 2024

A worker makes lace products on a production line at a smart textile production workshop in Fuzhou, Fujian province, China, Sept 20, 2024.

Network data regulations + Smart manufacturing + Biologics

Alexander Brown

Andreas Mischer

MERICS China Industries

Nov 06, 2024

A man works in a workshop of a graphite company in Jixi City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, March 24, 2023.

Europe’s economic security agenda needs far better techno-industrial intelligence

Rebecca Arcesati

Tobias Gehrke

Comment

Oct 28, 2024

Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket being transferred to the launch area.

China’s new space science plan + BRICS Summit + Steel exports

MERICS China Essentials

Oct 25, 2024

China’s economy shows faint signs of stabilization over Q3

Max J. Zenglein

François Chimits

Alexander Brown

Economic Indicators

Oct 23, 2024

Car carriers load cars for export at Yantai Port in Yantai, Shandong province, China, July 2024.

EU-China EV row + China’s stock market rally wilts + Labeling of AI-generated content

MERICS China Essentials

Oct 10, 2024

Workers at a liquid crystal display manufacturer work at Shanting Economic Development Zone in east China's Shandong province

“Manufacturing Champions” + Equipment renewal + Mobile Internet of Things

Alexander Brown

Andreas Mischer

MERICS China Industries

Oct 02, 2024

China’s drive for self-sufficiency in critical technologies, with Antonia Hmaidi

Podcast

Oct 02, 2024

Chinese LLMs + Weight-loss drugs + Chinese telcos build AI models

Antonia Hmaidi

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Rebecca Arcesati

Wendy Chang

Sep 26, 2024

MERICS starts the China Tech Observatory

Press release

Sep 26, 2024

Experts on Industrial Policy and Technology

Rebecca Arcesati

Lead Analyst

Technology; digital policy; artificial intelligence

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Head of Program

Strategic emerging industries; Research collaboration; Tech transfer

Alexander Brown

Senior Analyst

Industrial policy; foreign economic policy

Jacob Gunter

Head of Program

China's political economy; Industrial policy; Innovation

Andreas Mischer

Analyst

Foreign investment; industrial policy and Chinese automotive industry

Antonia Hmaidi

Senior Analyst

Geopolitics of technology; semiconductors; data science; hacking

Wendy Chang

Senior Analyst

China's tech companies, digital ecosystem and emerging technologies including AI

Altynay Junusova

Analyst

Space technology; quantum; critical minerals; dual-use technology

Industrial Policy and Technology

Trump-Xi trade truce gives Europe one last chance to finally de-risk from China

For China, "involution" is a blessing as well as a curse

Europe’s vehicle-data gap: How under-regulation gives Chinese carmakers an edge

Avoiding a race to the bottom: How the EU can counter Chinese export controls

MERICS Forum: How can the EU navigate China’s rare earths export controls

China’s economic policy holds line as growth weakens

Deep dive: China's export controls (Geoeconomic Competition podcast)

Shockwaves Made in China (IP Quarterly)

Rare-earths export controls + Nexperia + Fourth Plenum

What you now need to know about China’s expansion of REE export controls

The double-edged sword of semiconductor export controls: Electronic design automation (CSIS)

China’s “AI+” drive aims for integration across sectors: a wake-up call for Europe

MERICS Data Insight: Critical minerals

China’s rare-earths export controls hit EU rearmament – but open a strategic window

Beijing’s rare-earths export licensing system: delays by design?

China’s multi-purpose export controls raise pressure on Europe to derisk

Manufacturing metrology + Brain-machine tech + Tackling talent shortages

China’s rise in biotechnology, with Alexander Brown and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

China strebt nach Dominanz bei KI – mit Folgen für den Rest der Welt (Münchner Merkur)

China’s rise to global tech leadership, with James Kynge

The Evolution of "Made in China 2025" (The Diplomat)

How China uses persuasive technologies for social control (7am Podcast)

Solid GDP growth in Q2 masks China’s challenges

China’s drive toward self-reliance in artificial intelligence: from chips to large language models

China aims for self-reliance in AI, with Wendy Chang and Antonia Hmaidi

The trade-offs of innovating in China in times of global technology rivalry

China in 25: China and the Israel-Iran war + Basic research + EU-China summit

How China’s biotech is changing global ecosystems (Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission)

Beyond Made in China 2025 – China’s dream of broad-based industrial greatness

China’s overcapacities, with Max J. Zenglein and Jacob Gunter

China's economy improves as it braces for external shock

Lab leader, market ascender: China's rise in biotechnology

DeepSeek’s success masks China’s weakening innovation model

Greater secrecy in science and tech makes China’s progress harder to decipher

Google antitrust probe puts Beijing’s software “nationalism” in the spotlight

China advancing in drug discovery but needs foreign firms to get drugs to market

Guo Guangcan 郭光灿, one of China’s pioneers in quantum computing

Despite Huawei’s progress, Nvidia continues to dominate AI chips market in China

Beijing pushes for more efficiency in new energy sector

Data policy push + SME financing + Green hydrogen

Mikko Huotari on China and the new Silicon Valley of the car industry (F.A.Z. Podcast)

US swings boldly to block China’s AI progress, with fallout for other countries

DeepSeek and the upcoming AI Action Summit, with Rebecca Arcesati

China's GDP expands in Q4 but new growth drivers are needed in 2025

China’s economy in 2025, with Max Zenglein

China and the race for quantum leadership, with Antonia Hmaidi and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

China’s AI future in a quest for geopolitical, computing and electric power

US-China competition could lead to sub-par quantum tech standards

Policymakers take first steps to curb overinvestment in solar manufacturing

Export control breach reveals China’s continuing struggle to produce high-end semiconductors

Profile: Shanghai AI Lab: Driving both AI safety and development

Impatient for tech breakthroughs, the Communist Party is pushing aside private initiatives

China’s long view on quantum tech has the US and EU playing catch-up

New materials big data system + New energy storage industry + Smart factories

New MERICS index: how internationally integrated is China's economy?

Network data regulations + Smart manufacturing + Biologics

Europe’s economic security agenda needs far better techno-industrial intelligence

China’s new space science plan + BRICS Summit + Steel exports

China’s economy shows faint signs of stabilization over Q3

EU-China EV row + China’s stock market rally wilts + Labeling of AI-generated content

“Manufacturing Champions” + Equipment renewal + Mobile Internet of Things

China’s drive for self-sufficiency in critical technologies, with Antonia Hmaidi

Chinese LLMs + Weight-loss drugs + Chinese telcos build AI models

MERICS starts the China Tech Observatory

Rebecca Arcesati

Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau

Alexander Brown

Jacob Gunter

Andreas Mischer

Antonia Hmaidi

Wendy Chang

Altynay Junusova

Become a member

EV tariffs + EU-China policy at an inflection point + Exports to China