If the U.S. hopes to stay ahead of China, we need a national, coordinated strategy for developing emerging technologies.
If the U.S. hopes to stay ahead of China, we need a national, coordinated strategy for developing emerging technologies.
I n September 2025, Communist China publicly revealed its nuclear triad for the first time. At a military parade, the regime showcased an impressive array of land-, sea-, and air-launched nuclear weapons, emphasizing its rapid nuclear buildup. Yet China has made even faster progress on a “tech triad” that matters just as much in the 21st century. At lightning speed, it has integrated nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems. The United States has only begun to recognize how interconnected these technologies are. If we are to stay ahead of China, urgent national action is necessary.
You can say this for the Chinese Communist Party: It sees the big picture. Its leaders understand that nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems are the three pillars on which military power will be built from now on. Nuclear energy is essential to delivering the steady, high-output electricity required to power advanced artificial intelligence. AI, meanwhile, enables autonomy across all manner of emerging platforms, from coordinated drone swarms to collaborative unmanned aircraft. China is moving forward on all three fronts, with a strategic framework to achieve military dominance over the U.S. within the next five years.
This reality gives new potency to stories of Chinese advances. The country is building 34 nuclear reactors and plans to build nearly 200 more, in a coordinated effort to produce the reliable and affordable power required for energy-hungry AI models. Using the enormous amount of electricity the country currently generates, China is already deploying AI to train autonomous technologies with clear military applications. These include everything from robot scout dogs to war-game simulations. As more nuclear power plants come online, Chinese AI programs like DeepSeek will dramatically improve. In turn, these programs will enable autonomous systems to project Chinese power in every domain, from land, sea, and air to space and cyberspace.
The Chinese approach is intentional, aggressive, and cohesive. The United States, by contrast, has approached the pillars of the tech triad in a relatively scattershot way. Private American companies are leading the world in AI development, but there’s no corresponding national commitment to powering it. Zero large-scale nuclear reactors are currently under construction in the U.S., though the government plans to begin building several in the near future. As for autonomous systems, American innovators are hard at work, but they need greater assurances that they’ll have the power and AI capabilities necessary to keep the U.S. on the cutting edge.
In a way, the lack of national coordination reflects one of America’s greatest strengths. Here, private companies play the primary and irreplaceable role in advancing our national interests, tapping into the limitless ingenuity and creativity of 340 million free people. By contrast, China is steering growth with the iron hand of the state, suppressing innovation in some areas while cultivating it in others. The United States should never replicate the communist model. But there does need to be a national effort, led by Washington, D.C., to unify efforts in nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and autonomous technology. The goal shouldn’t be to supplant the private sector, but rather to empower it.
President Trump’s new National Security Strategy provides the foundation. The document rightly notes that the “future of military power” will be decided by “AI, quantum computing, and autonomous systems, plus the energy necessary to fuel these domains.” To ensure that the U.S. decides that future, the Trump administration should direct the Department of War and the Department of Energy to implement a National Integration Initiative. This must happen immediately, because speed is critical in defense and energy security.
Such an initiative should identify and eliminate regulatory roadblocks in each part of the tech triad. That includes everything from Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing timelines to National Environmental Protection Act review redundancies to export restrictions that prevent collaboration with key allies who can serve as force multipliers. A National Integration Initiative should also fund a slew of high-impact demonstration projects, from AI-powered microreactors to autonomous drone swarms in sea and space. Every action should aim to mobilize American companies to invest and innovate to an even greater degree. In addition to advancing our national security interests, such efforts would have enormous economic and commercial benefits for the American people.
The private sector is America’s ace in the hole, yet before we can play that card most effectively, our leaders in Washington must first deal the right hand. Without immediate and sustained national action, we will quickly fall behind an adversary that intends to defeat us. For the sake of our national security and global leadership, the United States must make 2026 the year that we begin building an unassailable lead on the tech triad.