You're right that the microchip stuff took a hit but I think the overall trend upwards will be hard to stop.

Truthfully I think the whole AI thing complicates matters in ways that it couldn't have in the USSR. I agree with many on this sub that AI will enable economic growth that has been unprecedented; 2-5% annual growth will give way to much larger jumps as mass deployment of industrial AI and robotics takes effect. IF (and this is a big if) China is able to roll out this tech faster than western countries, any current advantages the west has will quickly be overshadowed.

Perhaps self driving cars is a good litmus test for this. Western countries were the first ones to seriously make strides in the tech, but now a lot of Chinese cities are working with tech companies to enable taxi services. If China can take the lead in deployment of self driving cars both for personal and industrial use, it would be a good indicator that their unique command-market hybrid was a success in bringing emerging tech to fruition.

Next 5-10 years will be interestin haha