Move over Harvard and MIT—this university might be winning the AI race, and you've probably never heard of it

Tsinghua University sit outside in graduation regalia, smiling and waving (Credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sounded an alarm earlier this month, warning that China is rapidly closing in on the U.S. in the global race to AI dominance. And DeepSeek’s sudden rise earlier this year showed just how quickly the balance of power can shift.

That competition is playing out not just in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen, but also on university campuses. Beijing has been steadily building an AI powerhouse of its own at Tsinghua University—challenging the cutting-edge tech dominance of the U.S. Ivy League.