The Front Row Podcast #66: How China's Technology Leapfrogged The West - Louis Vincent Gave
8 snips
Dec 13, 2025 
Louis Vincent Gave, founder of Gavekal and a keen analyst on global macroeconomics, shares insight into China's remarkable tech advances. He discusses the pivotal 2018 tech embargo, reshaping US-China relations into a tech rivalry. Louis explores China's shift toward self-sufficiency amid economic pain, the implications of the Ukraine war for Europe, and how China's investment in R&D is fueling industrial innovation. He emphasizes China's advantages in open AI ecosystems compared to the US's closed models, urging Southeast Asia to embrace Chinese technology.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
2018: The Tech-War Turning Point
- 2018 transformed a trade spat into a tech war that forced China to pursue rapid self-sufficiency.
- That pivot redirected bank lending from real estate to industry and accelerated China's industrial leapfrogging.
BYD Everywhere: A Field Trip Revelation
- Louis-Vincent Gave describes visiting Brazil in 2019 and then 2023 to highlight rapid Chinese industrial export growth.
- He notes BYD went from absent to one-third of cars in Sao Paulo within that period.
Bank Loans Reveal Policy Direction
- Local governments and banks implement central industrial priorities by allocating land and loans to targeted sectors.
- Tracking bank lending reveals where Chinese policy and industrial capacity are being built.
