China's 15th Five-Year Plan, covering 2026–2030, elevates artificial intelligence to a central strategic priority, with directives to build self-sufficiency in AI chips and software, expand AI-driven surveillance, and explore autonomous AI-conducted scientific research1.
The plan, translated and published by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University on November 12, 2026, contains more AI-related content than any previous five-year plan. Its overarching theme is "Chinese-style modernization," defined in significant part by insulating China's industries against export controls and other sanctions.
The plan frames self-sufficiency across industries as a core objective, with AI chips and AI software called out explicitly.
ANALYSIS That framing ties the technology agenda directly to the geopolitical pressure China faces from semiconductor export restrictions. Beijing's commerce ministry has separately warned it will "take all necessary measures" to defend its interests in response to U.S. restrictions on Chinese AI products[1].
Beyond chips, the plan prioritizes harnessing AI in service of China's surveillance state and "exploring" autonomous AI-driven scientific research.
ANALYSIS The surveillance language points to continued state investment in AI-powered monitoring infrastructure, while the autonomous-research directive points toward longer-horizon bets on AI systems that can conduct scientific inquiry with reduced human oversight.
The 15th Five-Year Plan was drafted in accordance with a proposal from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, led by Xi Jinping, and is intended to "clarify national strategic intentions, make clear the focus of government work, and guide and standardize the behavior of entities in society". The prior 14th Five-Year Plan covered 2021–2025.
ANALYSIS The explicit pairing of AI-chip self-sufficiency with sanctions resilience frames China's semiconductor push less as industrial policy and more as a national-security imperative, tying chip fabrication targets to the same strategic logic that drives defense spending.