Fudan-LSE Lecture Series No.83

Title: 

High technology in China: dependency, interdependency and self-reliance

Speaker: 

Seamus Grimes, Professor Emeritus of Economic Geography, University of Galway

Host: 

Prof. Yijia Jing, Fudan IGPP

Discussants: 

Assoc. Prof. Yin Li, SIRPA, Fudan University

Time: 

12:00-13:20, Oct. 15, Wednesday, 2025

Venue: 

Room 805E, 8th Floor, West Sub-building of Guanghua Towers

https://www.wjx.cn/vm/rXpgLcq.aspx#

The Speaker：

Seamus Grimes is Professor Emeritus of Economic Geography at the University of Galway in Ireland. He has been a visiting research professor at East China Normal University for 15 years, making regular visits during that time to interview foreign technology companies in China.

In 2018 with Yutao Sun he published China and Global Value Chains: Globalization and the Information and Communications Technology Sector (Routledge). He has also published papers looking at China’s integration into technology global value chains, looking particularly at the semiconductor sector, the chemical sector and Big Pharma.

Abstract:

This presentation will examine the recent evolution of the high technology sector in China from a period of high levels of dependency on foreign technology, to increasing interdependency with its integration into global technology value chains and more recently in its policy push for greater technology self-reliance. It will pay particular attention to alliances between key global companies in technology value chains and examine recent developments in the semiconductor sector and AI ecosystems as value chains become increasingly bifurcated resulting from US-China rivalry and the growing influence of national security geopolitics. As the world shifts from highly optimised technology value chains to the possibility of two distinct AI ecosystems, attention will also be given to China’s self-reliance response to US sanctions.