Huawei Chair Urges Chinese AI Labs to Accelerate Development Before Safety Risks Emerge

Huawei's rotating chairman Eric Xu called on China's artificial-intelligence labs to step up development pace to eventually encounter the frontier risks now faced by U.S. counterparts, signaling Beijing's ambition to narrow a capability gap with American AI firms. Speaking at Huawei Connect 2025 in Shanghai on September 17, Xu argued that AI model providers in China need to speed their development to a level where they can "feel the risks from AI development," a threshold that existing Chinese systems have not yet reached. The comments reflect a strategic pivot by Chinese tech leadership: rather than viewing development speed and safety management as opposing forces, Xu framed accelerated progress as a prerequisite to encountering—and thus preparing for—frontier-level AI risks.