The AI competition between China and the U.S. is heating up, and picking sides is way more important than funding. From now on, both DeepSeek and Zhipu have national backing. After the Manus controversy, the AI industry has been classified as a national strategic asset. Just look at who’s left and whether they’re picking sides. Zhipu has already secured state-owned capital from Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Zhuhai, and Shanghai. As soon as DeepSeek’s funding news dropped, whether it’s a smokescreen or not, state-owned capital had to step in. The same playbook happened in the EV sector too. In 2020, Hefei bailed out NIO with 7 billion RMB, and Guangzhou’s state-owned capital invested 4 billion RMB in XPeng. The difference is, EVs were a lifeline, while AI models are just icing on the cake.