WASHINGTON: China has emerged as the first peer-level competitor to the United States in research spending, the White House said in a major science policy report, warning that Beijing’s coordinated drive is rapidly expanding its capabilities in critical and emerging technologies.
The assessment appears in “Science: A New Golden Age,” released Tuesday by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as a blueprint for restructuring America’s roughly $200 billion annual federal research and development enterprise.
“Over the past twenty years, China’s R&D spending has surged from a negligible fraction of U.S. levels to full parity on a purchasing-power-adjusted basis by some metrics,” the report says.
It contrasts the competition with the Cold War, when the Soviet economy was considerably smaller than that of the United States.
“For the first time, the United States faces a peer-level competitor in R&D spending on a purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted basis,” the report says in a chart comparing the United States, China and the 27-member European Union.
The document says Beijing has placed scientific research capacity at the centre of its global competitive strategy, with decisions taken at the highest levels and research efforts coordinated across different sectors.
“This all-of-society approach has allowed China to surge resources toward basic scientific research, advance rapidly in technologies of key national interest, and drive improvements in its innovation process,” it says.
China is also identified as a competitor in autonomous scientific laboratories, where artificial intelligence and robotics can help design and conduct experiments. The report says the United States has established prototype autonomous facilities at its national laboratories, but “other countries, including Canada and China, are racing forward.”
The White House blueprint recommends concentrating federal resources on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, nuclear fission and fusion, advanced communications, robotics, manufacturing and space systems.
The report makes no reference to India or Indian scientific institutions. India is also not identified as a potential partner in any of the national technology missions outlined in the document.
An accompanying fiscal 2028 research priorities memorandum, however, allows federal agencies to consider funding initiatives involving cost-sharing by “international partners.” It does not identify any country or define the scientific fields in which such international arrangements should be pursued.
While China dominates the report’s international comparisons, several other countries are cited as examples of research reform or industrial competition.
The United Kingdom is credited with restructuring its science-funding system and establishing a metascience unit in 2024 to collect evidence, test new funding mechanisms and examine the reliability of peer-review decisions.
Norway is cited for organising its national research council around a portfolio-based system, with boards allocating funding across themes identified in the government’s long-term research plan.
The report also recalls how Japanese manufacturers captured most of the global memory-chip market by the 1980s. That challenge helped lead 14 American semiconductor companies to create the federally supported SEMATECH consortium in 1987.
More broadly, the document warns that discoveries originating in the United States have frequently produced industrial benefits elsewhere. It notes that the only company capable of manufacturing extreme ultraviolet lithography machines is headquartered in Europe, while Asian companies dominate lithium-ion battery supply chains.
The report invokes the post-World War II restructuring of the American research system and the 1945 publication of Vannevar Bush’s “Science: The Endless Frontier.” It argues that the arrival of a peer-level competitor and the rise of AI require another fundamental reorganisation.
Federal agencies with at least $3 billion in fiscal 2026 R&D budget authority must submit implementation plans within 90 days. They must also incorporate the White House priorities into their fiscal 2028 budget submissions.
--IANS
