Did Silicon Valley underestimate Chinese tech companies?
Absolutely. Ten years ago, it was reasonable because most Chinese companies at the time were copycats. They were using Silicon Valley ideas and building companies in China. So, for every Google, Facebook, Amazon, there was a Chinese equivalent.
However, in the past 10 years, a miracle happened. China's market is huge, four times larger than the US. Lots of venture capital money poured in. And the Chinese entrepreneurs are hardworking, tenacious, very good at iterating companies. And actually, using a winner-take-all, highly competitive environment, came up with business model innovations that in many cases surpass the Silicon Valley.
While the Silicon Valley is still better in breakthrough innovation, China actually has done an amazing job in execution, is generating an equal amount of value, and all of this data generated in this large market, large apps, is now becoming fuel to make Chinese AI improving rapidly and quickly. Also catching up with the United States.