China's Green Energy Bets Make It a Winner from Iran War

hackingbear writes: While the Strait of Hormuz has remained closed to the United States and its allies for over two weeks now, Iran has continued to send at least 11.7 million barrels of crude oil through to China. This is on top of China’s already significant strategic oil stockpiles, which it built to new heights in the months leading up to the war. The country’s true advantage will come from its ‘supergrid’ and its years-long push to wean itself off of fossil fuel imports and buildout of renewable energies to become the world’s first electro-state. A huge part of China’s energy spending has been directed toward building out and fortifying its power grid for greater resilience. “China’s infrastructure build-out is far more efficient than that of most countries, and the power grid is no exception,” Penny Chen, a senior director with Fitch Ratings, recently told Fortune. And as AI and manufacturing continue to ramp up strain on global power grids, this will give China an even greater leg up in the competition for global tech and energy production – a race that it's already winning handily. “In some ways, the grid investments highlight how energy security — once viewed as a lofty, long-term goal of President Xi Jinping — is now becoming an immediate and crucial source of economic insulation,” reports Fortune. China invested almost $1 trillion in renewable energies in 2025 alone and has 38 nuclear reactor units under construction in addition to its massive solar and wind energy production. Its macro-economic data seem to be improving with stronger-than-expected industrial production (+6.3% year-over-year) and retail sales figures (+2.8% year-over-year) for January-February released Monday, while deflation is starting to ebb. Veteran strategist David Rosenberg regards China's as a victor in the trade war with America so far, by virtue of the $1.2 trillion trade surplus it recorded in 2025. Moreover it is "gaining serious ground" in the hotly-contested competition for AI supremacy.