Big Take Asia: The US Pledged to Contain China’s Tech Ambitions. It’s Not Working.
China is making steady progress in its quest to dominate key industries of the future, despite years of US tariffs, export controls and sanctions.
Check out this special episode of Bloomberg's Big Take Asia podcast, as hosts K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg News correspondent Rebecca Choong Wilkins about how the US is struggling to curb Beijing’s technological advances, and whether the upcoming presidential election could change the dynamic.
Then come back on Thursday, as Rebecca joins the next episode of Odd Lots -- along with Bloomberg economic analyst Gerard DiPippo -- to take a further look at the ongoing tech rivalry between the US and China.
Read more:
The Big Take: Efforts to Contain Xi’s Push for Tech Supremacy Are Faltering
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Years of Restrictions Didn't Slow China's Quest for Tech Dominance
In 2015, China identified several key industries of the future for which it aimed to compete at the technological frontier. The 'Made in China 2025' plan included expansion in things like EVs, solar power, batteries, semiconductors, AI, and drones. But now, 2025 is almost here and China's progress has been remarkable across several of these categories. In fact, it's the world leader in some of these industries (like EVs and solar), and it's catching up in others. In this episode we speak with Bloomberg News reporter, Rebecca Choong Wilkins, as well as Gerard DiPippo, senior geoeconomics analyst at Bloomberg Economics. The two of them were part of a team that took a major look at the status of Made In China 2025 (a name that isn't really even used that much anymore). We discuss how much progress China has made despite efforts from the US over the last several years to impede its ambitions, and how it's judging the success of the program.
Read More:
US Efforts to Contain Xi’s Push for Tech Supremacy Are Faltering
How American Tax Breaks Brought a Chinese Solar Energy Giant to Ohio
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Lots More on the Ongoing Mess That Is Intel
The US is in the midst of a big effort to bring more semiconductor manufacturing onshore. Intel is the biggest US semiconductor manufacturer. There's just one problem. Intel has really been struggling to get its fab operations up and running in a timely, efficient manner. So what's the problem, and can the company turn things around? On this episode of Lots More, we speak to Stacy Rasgon of Bernstein Research and Mackenzie Hawkins of Bloomberg News to discuss the current struggles and future prospects for the company.
Mentioned in this episode:
Intel Gets Multibillion-Dollar Apollo Offer as Qualcomm Circles
Arm Is Rebuffed by Intel After Inquiring About Buying Product Unit
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Lots More on How CHIPS Act Money Got Awarded
In 2022, Congress passed the CHIPS Act, which set aside tens of billions of dollars in loans and grants in order to encourage companies to build new semiconductor fabs in the United States. We're still very early in the process. It's going to be a long time before we know if the US will become a major player again in the production of advanced chips. But the process is well underway and the bulk of the awards have been officially announced, with much of the money going to Intel, Samsung, TSMC, and others. So how did the grants get allocated — and what's next? On this episode of Lots More, we speak with Bloomberg News reporter Mackenzie Hawkins on the latest developments.
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What AMLO's Legacy Means For Mexico's Upcoming Election
On June 2, 2024, Mexicans will go to the polls to elect a successor to current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. His chosen successor, former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, is the odds-on favorite. But what is AMLO’s legacy exactly? In some sense, economic growth under his administration has been robust. On the other hand, there’s been very little progress on domestic security. He also leaves a legacy of massive spending routed through the military, whose fruits are still undetermined. On this episode, we speak with Bloomberg News reporter Andrea Navarro, who has dug deep into how AMLO has conducted economic policy, his approach to industrial and fiscal policy, and whether Mexico is now in a position to ride the ongoing wave of trade with the US and the nearshoring of international supply chains.
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Why Crypto’s Thriving Post-SBF, Sports Betting Crisis Deepens, Jon Stewart vs. AI
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news, with special guest Zeke Faux of Bloomberg News and Number Go Up fame. We cover 1) Why crypto is thriving after poster boy SBF was convicted and sentenced 2) The latest rise of memcoins including dogwifhat and NFTs like CryptoDickbutts 3) Is this evidence of a deeper societal problem or just gambling? 4) The resilience of crypto, including Tether 5) Zeke's reporting on pig butchering scams 6) The rise of Nudes In Bio scams on Twitter 7) Sports betting's deepening crisis 8) Louisiana bans prop bets on college players 9) Jon Stewart's position against AI 10) Is a broader societal backlash against AI coming.
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How the US Dollar Became an International Weapon of War
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US took a number of extraordinary steps to cut Moscow out of the international financial system. The country immediately was hit with a slew of sanctions. It was cut off from the SWIFT payment system and it even had its dollar reserves seized. Prior to that, in 2021, the US took the rare step of seizing dollar reserves from Afghanistan's central bank after the Taliban's re-emergence to power. So how does the US control who gets to hold and transact in US dollars? Where did this power come from? What are the limits to the US policing of its own currency? On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Bloomberg Senior Reporter Saleha Mohsin, author of the new book, Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order. We discuss the buildup of this tremendous financial power and also what it means for the dollar's status as a reserve currency going forward.
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Zeke Faux's Crypto Adventures and His Relationship With Former FTX CEO SBF - Ep. 545
Zeke Faux, author of 'Number Go Up,' shares his findings after making a deep dive into the world of crypto. From skepticism to a full-blown investigation, Faux recounts his journey that led him to the heart of crypto, meeting some of the most eccentric characters in the industry. As a Bloomberg investigative reporter, Faux brings a critical eye to the crypto sphere, unearthing the bizarre, the risky, and the downright astonishing facets of what the crypto community calls a financial revolution.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights:
what the book 'Number Go Up' is about
Zeke's background as an investigative reporter for Bloomberg
whether Zeke is skeptical about crypto
why Zeke thought it was a big deal to investigate Tether, the issuer of USDT
whether he had a conclusion on the fact that he couldn't find anything big about Tether
why Zeke says that Sam Bankman-Fried had a sloppy approach to risk management
why Zeke believes that SBF did not give so much money to charity even though he's an effective altruist
how projects like STEPN and Axie Infinity are 'clearly not the future of finance,' according to Zeke
how SBF had such an open relationship with the media that helped him when the FTX collapse happened
what Zeke found out investigating pig butchering scams in Cambodia
how Zeke’s attempt to buy a Mutant Ape to get into an Ape Fest in New York City taught him about crypto’s bad user experience
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com
Arbitrum Foundation
Toku
LayerZero
Guest:
Zeke Faux, author of ‘Number Go Up’
Bloomberg: 11 Hours With Sam Bankman-Fried: Inside the Bahamian Penthouse After FTX’s Fall
Links
Tether
Unchained:
Is Tether a Fraud? Its Bank Says It's Not
Tether, the Multibillion-Dollar Stablecoin at the Heart of the Crypto Ecosystem
Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX
Unchained:
Sam Bankman-Fried on How to Prevent the Next Terra and 3AC
SBF Behind Bars: Why Revoked Bail Is a Big Deal for Crypto’s Biggest Trial
Pig butchering scams
Unchained: How This Prosecutor Is Spearheading the Fight Against Crypto ‘Pig Butchering’ Scams
Crypto in developing countries
Bitcoin in El Salvador: Why Would Cypherpunks Support Government-Mandated Bitcoin Adoption?
Anita Posch on Why ‘Bitcoin Is a Tool for Freedom’ – Especially in Africa
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Inside crypto’s wild rise and fall with “Number Go Up” author Zeke Faux | E1807
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Today’s show:
Zeke Faux, the author of “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall,” joins Jason to discuss crypto’s crazy rise and fall (3:58), how SBF learned to play the game (16:22), red flags at Tether (26:13), and so much more!
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Time stamps:
(0:00) Zeke Faux, the author of “Number Go Up” joins Jason
(3:58) Meeting Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas and first impressions
(10:23) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist
(11:30) SBF, his colleagues, and a hint of substance abuse
(16:22) The group psychosis and how they learned to play the game
(24:51) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(26:13) Operations and red flags at Tether
(35:44) CLA - Get started with CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors now at https://claconnect.com/tech
(37:15) Revisiting Zeke’s investigative journalism in Cambodia
(44:16) From organized crime to legitimate business
(46:59) Terraform Labs and the collapse of Luna
(49:05) The VC perspective and regulations in place
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Buy Number Go Up: https://www.amazon.com/Number-Go-Up-Cryptos-Staggering/dp/0593443810
FOLLOW Zeke: https://twitter.com/ZekeFaux
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Tether’s hidden billions with Bloomberg’s Zeke Faux + Startup Checklist E1 | E1300
First, Jason chats with Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux about his latest investigative piece "Tether's $69 Billion Mystery"(1:04). Then, Jason launches our news series "Startup Checklist" (31:49) which explores the things you should do to be prepared to launch a company.