What 72hrs in China taught me about the future (AI, EVs, more)

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

In this episode, I reflect on a whirlwind three-day visit to China - my first in over 20 years. And what I saw was remarkable. The infrastructure puts most of the West to shame. The AI isn't just hype - it's working at serious scale. And the electric vehicles? They're about to steamroll the global auto industry. Here's what really struck me during my whirlwind trip to Beijing and beyond.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Infrastructure built at speed: Beijing's immaculate airport, 300 km/h rail to Tianjin for £17, and pristine expressways that put US infrastructure to shame.
• Verticalised AI in action: While Chinese labs trail US frontier models and face compute constraints, they're excelling in verticals - profitable robotaxis in Wuhan, healthcare AI analyzing 5.5 billion medical records, and Squirrel AI's $200m education platform that outperforms China's best human teachers.
• EV cost leadership is set: Chinese electric vehicles are absolutely remarkable. Years of vicious domestic competition have created incredible innovation and cost discipline that will hit European carmakers like a sledgehammer.
• The air quality transformation: Beijing at 37°C was clean enough for a morning run, thanks to widespread EV adoption.
• Scale that defies comprehension: Convention centers 100 times the size of Union Square, cities of 20 million people, and AI platforms serving tens of millions of users.

Our new show

This was originally recorded for “Friday with Azeem Azhar”, a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through my Substack linked below.

The format is experimental and we’d love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at [email protected].

Azeem’s links:

• Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
• Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar?originalSubdomain=uk
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Timestamps:

(00:00) Surprises at the airport

(01:21) Immense scale

(01:54) 3 areas of interest

(02:37) Chinese infrastructure and engineering

(03:22) ~180mph train, £17 fare

(04:29) Multi-lane expressways built for scale

(05:55) Development of AI in china

(06:09) China leans into vertical AI

(08:12) Apollo robotaxis: unit-cost positive

(09:33) Yidu Tech: 5.5B health records

(10:35) Squirrel AI outperforms top teachers

(14:29) EVs & clean air

(16:14) BYD x Octopus: earn by charging

(18:30) EV boom improves Beijing air

(19:56) Luxury Chinese EV interior

(21:08) Closing thoughts

Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd.