Sridhar Vembu claims globalism is dead and India should learn from China

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu believes the age of “globalism” is coming to an end, arguing that India should take inspiration from China’s approach to sharing advanced technology with the world. In a recent post on X, Vembu contrasted the spirit of international cooperation that followed World War II with the form of globalization that gained momentum after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.

According to Vembu, the post-war period was built around collaboration and technology transfer, while the later phase of globalisation became increasingly driven by commercial interests and the protection of intellectual property.

To explain his point, he referred to the history of Chennai’s Integral Coach Factory (ICF), which was set up with technical assistance from Switzerland soon after India became independent.

“I want to contrast the ‘internationalism’ of the years immediately following World War II with the Wall Street-driven ‘globalism’ following the Soviet collapse (the 90s),” Vembu wrote.

He noted that Switzerland did not merely try to export products to India but helped the newly independent nation develop its own industrial capabilities. “Technology transfer was a term widely used back then: knowledge was meant to be shared, not hoarded,” he added. Vembu argued that this approach has gradually faded away. According to him, the focus has shifted from sharing knowledge to protecting intellectual property and selling products to countries that lack similar technological capabilities. “Nowadays, ‘knowledge’ has been replaced by ‘intellectual property.’ The goal is to sell things to people who have nothing to offer in return and to drive them into debt,” he stated. Furthermore, he maintained that “the death of globalism is a direct consequence of using intellectual property as a tool to dominate world affairs.” China’s push for open-source AI is attracting global attention.

The Zoho founder also linked his views to India’s long-term global ambitions. He asserted that the vision of Bharat becoming a “Vishwaguru” (teacher to the world) should be grounded in reviving an ancient culture of international cooperation, where advanced technology is voluntarily shared with developing nations rather than kept under strict control.

His comments come at a time when China is increasingly promoting open-source artificial intelligence models on the global stage. Vembu cited China’s decision to openly release state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs), noting that this has helped strengthen the country’s international standing. “Offering state-of-the-art LLMs has boosted China’s prestige in world affairs. There is a lesson here for us,” he wrote.

His remarks follow the recent launch of Kimi K3, an open-source AI model developed by the Chinese startup Moonshot AI. The company claims the model can compete with leading AI systems from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic across various performance metrics. The launch also coincided with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call for greater international cooperation on AI and a more open approach to the technology.

The unveiling of Kimi K3 also triggered a sharp reaction in financial markets: shares of several US semiconductor companies fell amid fears that increasingly capable and cost-effective Chinese AI models could challenge the current AI investment cycle.