XI Warns Officials Against Chasing ‘Reckless’ Expansion in GDP

Dec 15, 2025 -- Today’s top stories: Xi Warns Officials Against Chasing ‘Reckless’ Expansion in GDP, Trump’s Order Targeting State AI Laws Faces Political and Legal Hurdles, and AI’s Achilles Heel — When Supercharged Chips Age Faster Than the Hype.

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By CommonWealth Magazine
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2025-12-15

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Xi Warns Officials Against Chasing ‘Reckless’ Expansion in GDP

At a recent Politburo meeting, the Chinese Communist Party signaled a strategic pivot toward boosting domestic demand, making it the top priority for 2026. The leadership aims to unlock household spending to counter deflation while continuing to promote “new productive forces” — using advanced technologies to upgrade manufacturing rather than scaling it back.

China’s President Xi Jinping has also warned against inflated growth figures and “reckless” projects pursued solely to show superficial results. According to the People’s Daily, Xi said all plans must be grounded in facts and focused on solid, genuine growth that supports high-quality, sustainable development.

China is on track to reach about 5% growth in 2025 largely on the back of a powerful export surge, including a record $1 trillion trade surplus achieved in just 11 months despite U.S. tariffs. Beijing, however, acknowledges that this export-led model is unlikely to sustain growth in the year ahead as global demand weakens and trade frictions persist.

While more monetary easing and stimulus are likely, economists caution that China’s longer-term growth hinges on deeper reforms. Addressing the property downturn, local government debt, youth unemployment and weak social safety nets — while easing reliance on rigid GDP targets — will be critical if China is to shift toward more balanced and durable growth.

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Trump's order targeting state AI laws faces political and legal hurdles

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U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking state-level artificial intelligence regulations that his administration argues could slow innovation. The move is expected to face political and legal resistance from states seeking to preserve their authority over AI oversight.

The order directs federal agencies to challenge state AI laws in court and withhold federal funding from states deemed to have restrictive rules. Technology companies have welcomed the move, saying fragmented state regulations undermine U.S. competitiveness with China, but legal experts warn the administration’s authority to enforce the order is limited.

One key enforcement tool targets the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, instructing the Commerce Department to deny funding to states with AI laws the administration considers burdensome. That approach could trigger lawsuits and intensify federal–state tensions.

The funding threat may also alienate rural, Republican-leaning states that rely heavily on BEAD dollars to expand internet access. Rural voters were a core part of Trump’s electoral base in 2024, raising questions about the political costs of tying broadband funding to AI regulation disputes.

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AI’s Achilles heel — When supercharged chips age faster than the hype

The Tech industry has spent around $400Bn on specialised chips and data centres this year in pursuit of the ai dream, but questions are mounting about the wisdom of such unprecedented levels of investment. at the heart of the doubts is overly optimistic estimates about how long these specialised chips will last before becoming obsolete.

With persistent worries of an ai bubble and so much of the us economy now riding on the boom in artificial intelligence, analysts warn that the Wake-Up call could be brutal and costly. before the ai wave unleashed by Chatgpt, cloud computing giants typically assumed that their chips and Servers would last about six years.

But Mihir Kshirsagar of Princeton University ’ s center for information technology policy says the “ combination of wear and tear along with technological obsolescence makes the six-year assumption hard to Sustain. ” one problem is chip makers, with Nvidia the unquestioned leader, are releasing new, more powerful processors much faster than before. at this pace, chips lose 85% to 90% of their market value within three to four years. ai processors are also failing more often than in the past, Luria noted. a recent Meta study on its Llama ai model found an annual failure rate of 9%.

For Kshirsagar and Burry alike, the realistic LifeSpan of these ai chips is just two or three years.

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