New Delhi, July 3 -- HONG KONG - The world's largest pharmaceutical companies are quietly rewiring their drug-discovery pipelines around artificial intelligence platforms built in China, even as Washington moves to restrict exactly that kind of technology access.

Chinese biotech firms struck licensing deals worth $75 billion in the first five months of 2026 alone, according to reporting by South China Morning Post. Total deal value, including both in-licensing and out-licensing arrangements, reached $93 billion across 169 agreements, an 87 percent increase in deal volume from the same period a year earlier. In 2020, Chinese companies had not concluded a single out-licensing agreement with a foreign pharmaceutical partner.

The pace of de...