Everyone will quote the compute numbers from this, but the remark I'd underline is #79: "those who take more will be beaten by those who take less." It's a genuinely different operating philosophy from the winner-take-all instinct in the Valley, and it shows up again and again in the strongest new Chinese founders. Vision over KPIs, restraint as strategy, open source by conviction rather than PR. The Western read of Chinese AI is still "cheap and state-backed." A founder running his company on this is a long way from that story.
Part of this operating philosophy is shaped by China's political economy. Claim you can monopolise a foundational technology in the West and you attract capital. Claim the same in China, and you attract state attention that you don't want. Hence the restraint.
Different philosophies shaped by different environments, but it lands on Western pricing power regardless.
Fair on the environment. Still, I've watched founders who could safely play louder choose restraint anyway — it's an instinct now, not just a survival reflex. Whether it converts to pricing power is the open question. My bet's on the long game.
Everyone will quote the compute numbers from this, but the remark I'd underline is #79: "those who take more will be beaten by those who take less." It's a genuinely different operating philosophy from the winner-take-all instinct in the Valley, and it shows up again and again in the strongest new Chinese founders. Vision over KPIs, restraint as strategy, open source by conviction rather than PR. The Western read of Chinese AI is still "cheap and state-backed." A founder running his company on this is a long way from that story.
Part of this operating philosophy is shaped by China's political economy. Claim you can monopolise a foundational technology in the West and you attract capital. Claim the same in China, and you attract state attention that you don't want. Hence the restraint.
Different philosophies shaped by different environments, but it lands on Western pricing power regardless.
Fair on the environment. Still, I've watched founders who could safely play louder choose restraint anyway — it's an instinct now, not just a survival reflex. Whether it converts to pricing power is the open question. My bet's on the long game.