US commission warns China data AI advantage

On August 18, 2026, the United States — United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional advisory body, released a report warning that China is commercializing and monetizing data as a strategic national asset to advance its AI and technology goals, potentially giving it an advantage over the United States in the AI race. The report highlights China's systematic collection of domestic enterprise, operational, and physical-world data that cannot be scraped from the open internet, which is crucial for training AI tools for business, autonomous vehicles, and humanoid robots. It notes that China's advanced manufacturing and industrial robotics ecosystems provide a vast pool of high-quality data for embodied AI applications, giving it a potential edge in robotics software for commercial and military uses. The report also details China's regulatory tightening of cross-border data transfers, causing compliance issues for foreign multinationals, and its establishment of the International — National Data Administration in 2023 to oversee data standardization and build a unified national data trading market. Commission vice chair Mike Kuiken recommended that the U.S. Congress develop a national data strategy and treat data as an economic asset. The report underscores the strategic importance of data in the U.S.-China technology competition.