U.S.–China
China, firsthand.
Digital Battlefield Group works across the U.S.–China relationship in three ways: private conversations between leaders on both sides, delegations that put you in the room with the founders building China's technology frontier, and sourcing that brings the best of that technology to American work.
Conversations · Delegations · Sourcing
Conversations
Private Zoom briefings and dinners that seat leaders from the United States and China at the same table. Under the Chatham House Rule.
About the conversationsDelegations
A week inside China's AI, robotics, and neuroscience frontier, with the founders building it. The next trip leaves in December 2026.
About the delegationsSourcing
Chinese robotics and technology, evaluated and piloted for American work. We start with the job, not the brochure.
About sourcingWhy we do this
Most of what Americans hear about China arrives secondhand, filtered through a newsroom, a think tank, a quarterly report, or a campaign. Most of what Chinese founders hear about America arrives the same way.
DBG's convening has always worked by putting people who would not otherwise meet into the same conversation. Applied to the U.S.–China relationship, that means three things: talking directly with leaders on both sides, going to see the technology in person, and, where it makes sense, putting that technology to work at home.
We are not a lobby, a fund, or a policy shop. We are a table, a trip, and a supplier shortlist, run by people with working relationships in both countries.
Conversations
Leaders from both sides, at the same table.
DBG hosts recurring private Zoom briefings on the U.S.–China relationship, and small dinners that seat American and Chinese leaders across from one another. Participants come from government, technology, finance, science, and media on both sides. Every session is held under the Chatham House Rule: no press, no recordings, nothing attributed.
Private briefings
One expert opens the call, then the room takes over. A recent briefing was led by one of Asia's most experienced diplomats, joined by former U.S. cabinet officials, ambassadors, a special operations commander, and AI researchers. It covered the economy, Taiwan, how the global south reads the quarrel, and why the AI contest may end in a tie.
Read about the August briefingDinners and salons
A private room, a small table, and a guest mix chosen so that a Chinese founder, an American investor, a former official, and a scientist end up in one conversation. We set the table, the format, and the follow-up. Organizations can also commission a dinner or briefing around a defined subject.
Chatham House Rule, always.
“The West makes up twelve percent of the world's population. How twelve percent sees China is not how the remaining eighty-eight percent sees China.”
“Walk into the factories and you struggle to find human beings. People will tell you it's the one-child policy and a labor shortage. It isn't. It's that they invested in the most advanced machines to reach the highest productivity.”
“Neither side should or will win the so-called AI race, for technical reasons. It's much more likely to be a very destructive tie.”
“When you two quarrel, you rock the whole boat, and we're in it with you.”
Unattributed lines from a recent briefing, in keeping with the Rule.
Request briefing invitationsDelegations
A week inside the technology moving China forward.
Our first China delegation brought twenty leaders from AI, investing, business, national security, politics, media, and the nonprofit world together for a week of company visits, private discussions, and firsthand exposure to the technology moving China forward.
Participants called it unforgettable and life-changing. The relationships built on the trip are already producing new collaborations and business on both sides of the Pacific.
Next delegation
China, December 2026
We are going back. The program centers on visits to leading AI and robotics companies, with five-star accommodation throughout and dinners with guests from Chinese business, technology, and policy. Places are limited.
Or write to china@digitalbattlefield.com
Included
- Company visits and live demonstrations
- Expert discussions and private briefings
- Small-group meals with guests from business, technology, and policy
- Five-star accommodation, ground transport, and scheduling handled end to end
Who you meet
The program is built around the people making the decisions, across the spectrum.
- Founders and leaders of China's frontier AI labs and model companies
- Humanoid and industrial robotics companies, seen on the factory floor
- Neuroscience and brain-computer interface pioneers
- Biotech and life-science founders
- Investors, economists, and policy figures who can explain how decisions actually get made
Smaller and custom trips
For those who cannot make December, or who want a program built around one question.
We organize smaller, more flexible trips through the year, and custom programs for companies, investors, and organizations that want a delegation shaped around a specific sector, a specific set of meetings, or their own timing. Tell us what you want to see and which dates work.
Ask about a custom programSourcing
Chinese robotics, put to work in America.
China now builds some of the most capable and affordable robots in the world. Very few American organizations know how to find that equipment, evaluate it, buy it, and keep it running. DBG does.
We help U.S. companies and public institutions identify where a robot would actually help, find and vet suppliers, arrange demonstrations, and run a limited pilot, drawing on working relationships with manufacturers and distributors in China and across Asia. The questions are practical: what can the equipment do, what will it cost, and who will keep it working?
Starting with the job
01
Start with the job
How the work is done today, where it happens, how often it repeats, and what a useful improvement would look like. If a robot is not the answer, we say so here.
02
Shortlist suppliers
We identify manufacturers and distributors in China and across Asia, arrange conversations and demonstrations, and compare equipment against the job rather than against the spec sheet.
03
Scope the pilot
One defined job in one limited setting. Equipment, site requirements, delivery partners, budget, and measures of success are agreed before anything ships. Purchase, rental, and service options are compared where available.
04
Decide with evidence
The pilot measures task completion, staff time, reliability, supervision needs, and operating cost. Then you scale, adjust, or stop, with the numbers in hand.
What you receive
A supplier shortlist
Manufacturers and distributors matched to the job, with introductions made.
A comparison
Capabilities and costs side by side, against your requirements rather than the catalog.
A pilot plan
Scope, budget, responsibilities, and evaluation criteria. Installation and maintenance scoped with delivery partners.
A recommendation
Next steps you can act on, including when the honest answer is not yet.
For U.S. buyers
Companies, campuses, and public facilities. We organize the conversations needed to evaluate overseas technology and handle the distance: language, time zones, due diligence, and the practical question of who supports the machine once it is on your floor.
For Chinese suppliers
For manufacturers exploring U.S. applications, we identify potential pilot customers, operating partners, and service providers, make the introductions, and build a market-entry or pilot-development plan.
Emergency response and wildfire
With prospective operating partners, we are developing pilots around wildfire preparedness and response: inspection, mapping, moving equipment at response sites, and information collection. Initial work centers on controlled exercises, and the findings decide whether and how a system goes to the field.
How we work
A defined assignment. A responsible lead.
We begin with the question or the job, agree on the scope, and bring in the people needed to deliver it. The result may be a seat at a briefing, a place on a delegation, a supplier shortlist, or a pilot plan.
Every engagement has a designated lead, with technical partners and advisors in the United States and China brought in for the relevant work.
“The most consequential relationship in the world is too important to understand secondhand.”
Tell us where to start.
A seat at a briefing, a place on the December delegation, or a job you think a robot could do. Tell us the task, the setting, and the timing, and we will follow up with a sensible first step.
For delegations and custom trips, write to china@digitalbattlefield.com