Does U.S. Entity List impel Chinese AI enterprises to exploratory innovation? An external knowledge acquisition perspective

The neoglobalization landscape and geopolitical risks demand novel responses from enterprises regarding their innovation strategies. Existing research has examined the impact of U.S. trade sanctions on the innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises, yielding conflicting findings of both stimulation and inhibition. However, limited attention has been paid to how sanctions influence enterprise innovation strategies. Critical questions arise in this context: has the preference between exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies shifted among these enterprises, and how are they addressing technological knowledge gaps from trade restrictions? To address these questions, this paper investigates shifts in the exploration-exploitation balance of innovation strategies among Chinese AI enterprises on the U.S. Entity List, and analyzes the mediating effects of external knowledge acquisition, such as foreign patent citations and industry-academia collaborations, on these strategy shifts. Empirical findings from 168 Chinese AI enterprises on the U.S. Entity List reveal that a stronger capacity to acquire external knowledge through domestic industry-academia collaborations correlates with a greater inclination toward exploratory innovation strategies, while reliance on Western patented technology correlates with a reduced inclination toward exploratory innovation.