China’s tech sector has a new obsession: competing with US titans like Google and Microsoft Corp. in the breakneck global artificial intelligence race.

Xi Jinping led a parade of officials this spring vowing to revive China’s economy, hoping to repair the damage wrought by years of Covid Zero and regulatory clampdowns. Some of the world’s biggest investors are selling anyway.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. have begun preparations for a trio of the year’s biggest Chinese debuts, heralding a wave of initial public offerings that promise to breathe new life into the struggling technology industry and Hong Kong’s stock market.

China can match the US in artificial intelligence thanks to the expertise of companies from Alibaba to Baidu, joining a global tech transformation that will dwarf the mobile revolution, according to industry pioneer Kai-Fu Lee.

At a time when the US and China are divided on everything from economics to human rights, artificial intelligence is still a point of particular friction.