China is often described as a command economy — the state picks winners, directs capital, and calls the shots. But that picture keeps colliding with an inconvenient reality: in sector after sector where China now leads — EVs, solar, and increasingly AI — the dominant firms are private, competition is savage, and margins are razor-thin. So what is the state actually doing?
My guests Angela Huyue Zhang, a law professor at USC, and S. Alex Yang of London Business School, have a striking answer: think of Beijing less as a central planner and more as a platform company — like Nvidia or Apple — one that builds the architecture and governs the ecosystem. They call it the “platform state,” and I sat down with them at the WEF Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian to unpack what it means for the AI race.
Audio podcast will drop next week!
