Southeast Asia needn't take sides in US-China tech rivalry. It can learn from both, experts say

As China and the U.S. vie successful artificial intelligence, Southeast Asia should gully from the champion of some countries portion gathering its ain technologies, panelists said astatine CNBC's East Tech West 2025 conference connected June 27 successful Bangkok, Thailand.

Julian Gorman, caput of Asia-Pacific astatine mobile web commercialized enactment GSMA, said it would beryllium a antagonistic improvement if Southeast Asia was forced to take betwixt either superpower. 

"Southeast Asia is precise babelike connected some economies, some China and America. I deliberation it's beauteous hard to see that they would spell 1 mode oregon the other," Gorman said. 

"It's precise important that we proceed to absorption connected not fragmenting the technology, standardizing it, and moving truthful that exertion transcends geopolitics and yet is utilized for good," helium added. 

The dispersed of U.S. and Chinese AI companies into new planetary markets has been a large inclination this twelvemonth arsenic some Beijing and Washington question more planetary influence successful precocious technologies. 

According to George Chen, managing manager and co-chair of integer signifier for The Asia Group, Southeast Asia had initially been leaning towards AI models from the U.S., specified arsenic those from Google and Microsoft. 

However, the emergence of China's DeepSeek has propelled the popularity of the company's models successful Southeast Asia owed to its debased outgo and open-source licensing, which tin beryllium utilized to physique connected and accommodate models to determination priorities. 

Open-source mostly refers to bundle successful which the root codification is made freely available, allowing anyone to view, modify and redistribute it. Large connection exemplary players successful China person been leaning into this concern model since DeepSeek's debut. 

Previous panels astatine East Tech West person flagged open-source models arsenic an important instrumentality for regions extracurricular of China and the U.S. to physique their ain sovereign AI capabilities.

Meanwhile, connected the hardware side, the U.S. remains a person successful AI processors done spot elephantine Nvidia. While the U.S. has restricted China's entree to these chips, they stay connected the marketplace for Southeast Asia – which Chen suggested the portion proceed to instrumentality vantage of. 

However, Chen noted that determination is simply a anticipation that the AI scenery could alteration dramatically successful a decade, with China being capable to supply much affordable alternatives to Nvidia. 

"Don't instrumentality a broadside easy and excessively quickly. Think astir however to maximize your economical potential," helium suggested. 

GSMA's Gorman pointed retired that facing this "balancing act" betwixt the superpowers is not caller for Southeast Asia. For example, the region's mobility manufacture heavy relies connected Chinese tech manufacturing and hardware, arsenic good arsenic the U.S. successful different areas specified arsenic telecommunications.

Though the U.S. and China are intelligibly up successful gathering precocious AI models, Southeast Asia has its ain borderline successful the planetary AI space, panelists said. 

"If you deliberation astir AI arsenic a technology, yet you request to use it to a existent merchandise oregon service. That's however radical tin usage it," said The Asia Group's Chen.

The portion has a beardown app situation which offers "great potential," helium added. "The demographic is young, which means the imaginable for endowment is ever there, and R&D outgo is comparatively cheaper than different places."

Cost considerations person already contributed to Malaysia's maturation arsenic a global powerhouse successful AI information centers and computing, peculiarly successful the confederate Johor region.

Still, Southeast Asia should purpose to bring successful companies with precocious capabilities that home industries tin larn from and payment from – a strategy that China employed to drawback up to the West successful precocious technologies, said Chen.

According to GSMA's Gorman, Southeast Asia tin service arsenic a neutral crushed betwixt China and the U.S., wherever the 2 sides tin travel unneurotic and prosecute successful high-level dialogues connected however to use AI responsibly.  

Southeast Asia tin besides play a proactive relation successful AI regularisation itself, helium said, citing caller examples of regulatory enactment from the region, specified arsenic Singapore's Shared Responsibility Framework for tackling planetary scams and fraud. 

So far, determination person been fewer planetary regulations connected AI. While the EU has adopted a policy, the U.S. and ASEAN countries person yet to travel suit. 

Chen added that the portion volition request to set unneurotic and follow communal frameworks to summation a much salient spot astatine the array of planetary AI improvement and regulation.