The People’s Liberation Army is just a year away from its centenary goals in its evolution into a “world-class” fighting force. In this part of a series , Amber Wang looks at the growing influence of artificial intelligence in combat and the private firms stepping into the area. Roughly two months before the United States launched air strikes on Iran , a little-known Chinese technology company was watching an unusual pattern emerge on its screens. Drawing on open-source intelligence and artificial intelligence -powered analysis, Hangzhou-based Jingan Technology said it had detected an unusually large concentration of US surveillance assets across the Middle East. Jingan is among a growing number of Chinese private tech firms entering the country’s rapidly expanding defence AI sector, driven by Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy to integrate private companies into the defence industry.