China, China, China. Breaking Down China’s Tech Surge | BG2 w/ Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner

Open Source bi-weekly convo w/ Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner on all things tech, markets, investing & capitalism. This week, they dive deep into China’s explosive innovation across AI and EVs, the rise of open-source models, lessons for U.S. competitiveness, the real story on tariffs and trade—and what America must do to win the global tech race. Enjoy another episode of BG2!

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:20) OpenAI, Anthropic, Private Market Overheating
(03:30) China's Role in the Global Tech Order
(04:50) Why Bill Went to China
(06:40) Dan Wang's Breakneck: Engineers vs Lawyers
(10:30) Xiaomi, BYD, and Auto Innovation
(14:00) Factory Productivity, Automation, and the Jobs Debate
(15:20) Open Source Model Culture in China
(19:30) Can the US Compete Without Reform?
(23:30) Tariffs, Trade Deals, and a Path to Cooperation
(28:00) Waymo, Baidu, and Cost Innovation
(33:00) Is China Winning Global Trade?
(36:30) Debunking the Subsidy Narrative
(38:30) What the CEOs Who Visit China Actually Say
(41:30) China's AI Ecosystem: DeepSeek, Qwen, Alibaba Cloud
(44:00) Open Source in China and the US: Strategic Choices
(48:00) VC Pullback from China & What's Still Happening on the Ground
(53:00) China's New K-Visa vs US Skilled Immigration Policies
(56:30) Gurley: Read Dan Wang’s Breakneck, Watch the Ground Game
(01:03:00) VC Pullback from China

Show Notes:
Open Source Development in China merics.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/MERICS%…
Lei Jun 2024 Annual Speech: youtube.com/live/l5f3wvLwLXY

Produced by Dan Shevchuk
Music by Yung Spielberg

Available on Apple, Spotify, bg2pod.com
Follow:
Brad Gerstner @altcap x.com/altcap
Bill Gurley @bgurley x.com/bgurley

BG2 Pod @bg2pod x.com/BG2Pod