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Reflections from my first week in China

An inspiring start to the trip — and a firsthand look at how rapidly China is advancing in electrification, AI, and automation. After a day at the Bin Yuan office, I travelled 1,300km to Beijing in just 4½ hours by high-speed train — spotless, quiet, and a reminder of what true infrastructure scale feels like.
In Beijing, we met Fourth Paradigm, often called the “Chinese Palantir.” They’re turning years of AI research into real enterprise solutions and expect to break even this year — a signal of how quickly China’s enterprise AI ecosystem is maturing.
A robo-taxi ride took us to Pony.ai, where we discussed their expansion from 1,000 to 10,000 autonomous vehicles by 2027 — their next-gen 8 model will have no steering wheel!
Out in Inner Mongolia, XCMG showcased the world’s first fleet of 100 unmanned electric mining trucks, powered by solar and battery swapping — 45% cheaper than diesel over an eight-year lifecycle.
And the scale continues to impress: from Yili’s 10,000-cow automated dairy farms (part of a 600,000-cow network!) to biotech labs engineering next-generation livestock.
Everywhere, there’s a striking blend of technology, efficiency, and ambition - a reminder of how fast innovation moves when scale and intent align.

08/11/2025

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