0330 GMT - Large U.S. technology companies are expected to maintain advantages in artificial intelligence despite rising competition from China, Moody's Ratings says. Helped by lower infrastructure costs, policy support and open-source models, Chinese tech companies are accelerating AI investment and narrowing the gap with U.S. rivals. However, Moody's says substantially higher U.S. spending, stronger cloud businesses and continued access to advanced chips should preserve U.S. leadership in compute capacity and AI monetization. Moody's says heavy AI capital expenditure will likely pressure free cash flow and increase leverage for both U.S. and Chinese tech companies over the next 12 to 24 months. Still, strong earnings, substantial cash reserves and access to funding should help cushion the financial impact, it says.