US Falling Behind China in Exploit Production

The Atlantic Council analysis argues China has cultivated a comprehensive offensive cyber ecosystem—integrating private-sector exploit acquisition, education pipelines (e.g., large CTF programs), policy alignment, and domestic technology stacks—that gives it a multi-year advantage over the United States in creating and stockpiling zero-days. The report urges the U.S. to invest in CTF programs, vulnerability-research accelerators, exploit-supply chain efforts, and AI-driven research to rebuild offensive capabilities and parity.