Best China Business Podcasts (2025)

1
Allied Scale: Rush Doshi on US-China Net Assessment 1:13:33

1h ago1:13:33

1:13:33

Rush Doshi (CFR, Biden NSC, author of the excellent The Long Game) and I run through the US-China tale of the tape. The future of America's relationship with its allies may be the key hinge variable for whether this century turns out to be China's to define. Do give this one a listen. Especially if you're JD Vance! See Rush's Foreign Affairs articl…

1
Chips: Liberated? Trump’s Semis Tariff Gambit 50:23

6d ago50:23

50:23

Bill Reinsch of CSIS and the Trade Guys podcast with Jay Goldberg of Digits and Dollars and the Circuit podcast join to dicuss Trump's tariff impact on semis on another CSIS-ChinaTalk Chip Chat! Bill lays out the four clashing instincts driving policy in MAGA 2.0: revenge for decades of perceived slights, a bargaining bluff to coerce concessions, a…

1
Breaking Huawei + Tariffs Done Right with SemiAnalysis and Asianometry 34:32

7d ago34:32

34:32

Dylan Patel is a man on a mission. We get into how: Huawei is giving NVIDIA a run for their money What USG needs to do about it What smart semiconductor tariff policy would look like o3 Outtro Music, a little texas country for you all: Ernest Tubb, Walking the Floor Over You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQIRRReZIls Hank Thompson, Wild Side of Li…

1
Breaking Beijing: Military Competition with Tony Stark 1:02:11

12d ago1:02:11

1:02:11

Does America still have what it takes to stand up to China? Does short-term military readiness trade off with long-term strategy? What does the US need to do today to stay competitive for the rest of the century? “Tony Stark” is the author of Breaking Beijing, a Substack examining the military dimensions of US-China competition. Tony’s Substack goe…

1
GreatDepressionTalk with SemiAnalysis and Asianometry 49:10

19d ago49:10

49:10

Doug gives his "we're heading for the end of the dollar-based world order" take. Dylan has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to macro or politics. We fail to arrive at the 2011 Obama-Boehner deal. I had a fever during the recording so don't really talk. 1930s-energy outtro music: Victoria Spivey, Detroit Moan, 1936 https://open.spotify.…

1
EMERGENCY POD: Are We Cooked? 46:29

19d ago46:29

46:29

Kevin Xu of https://interconnect.substack.com/, Matt Klein of https://theovershoot.co/, and Peter Harrell, Biden's U.S. White House as senior director for international economics in 2021-2022 and host of the new https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/security-economics/id1794022711 podcast join the show to discuss whether America's cooked. Outtro Mu…

1
EMERGENCY POD: Liberation Day with Tanner Greer of Scholarstage 1:41:34

22d ago1:41:34

1:41:34

Tanner Greer of Scholar's Stage and I try to make sense of Liberation Day, the intellectual underpinnings of Trump's team, and what it all means for the world. Tanner's report: https://www.fpri.org/article/2025/03/obscurity-by-design/ Outtro Music: Nobody but You Babe, Clarence Reid, 1969 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCT7w2t8cyY 01:23 Geopolitic…

1
The Soviet Cold War Machine: Inside the Sino-Soviet Rivalry 1:15:34

26d ago1:15:34

1:15:34

Welcome to part two of our series on Cold War history with Sergey Radchenko. Here’s part one. In today’s interview, we discuss… Khrushchev’s removal from power and the transition to the Brezhnev era, How the USSR and China managed their relationships with Vietnam, Sino-Soviet border conflicts, Brezhnev’s negative feelings toward China, and Nixon’s …

1
Superintelligence Strategy with Dan Hendrycks 1:14:59

28d ago1:14:59

1:14:59

Is there a stable state the US and China can hope for on the road to AGI? To discuss we have on today Dan Hendrycks. A CS PhD, Dan runs the Center for AI Safety and is an advisor at xAI and Scale AI. Here's his superintelligence strategy: https://www.nationalsecurity.ai/ For some more direct lessons from the Cold War to today's US-China dynamics, c…

1
SemiAnalysis + Asianometry on Intel, Gemini 2.5, and Chinese Robots 28:28

1M ago28:28

28:28

The Transistor Radio boys are back. Jon of Asianometry, Doug O'Laughlin and Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis on the pod to talk about Google's AI push, Intel's new CEO, Chinese robots, and the rise of CoreWeave. Here's the article rating the clouds that SemiAnalysis wrote: https://semianalysis.com/2025/03/26/the-gpu-cloud-clustermax-rating-system-how-to…

1
The Soviets' Bid for Global Power 1:50:46

1M ago1:50:46

1:50:46

Sergey Radchenko’s book, To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Bid for Global Power, is a masterwork! In my mind, it’s in pole position for best book of 2025. Sergey takes you into the mind of Soviet and Chinese leaders as they wrestle for global power and recognition, leaving you amused, inspired, and horrified by the small-mindedness of the people who …

1
Building Compute in America 1:15:41

1M ago1:15:41

1:15:41

Despite leading the world in AI innovation, there’s no guarantee that America will rise to meet the challenge of AI infrastructure. Specifically, the key technological barrier for data center construction within the next 5 years is new power capacity. To discuss policy solutions, ChinaTalk interviewed Ben Della Rocca, who helped write the AI infras…

1
Manus: A DeepSeek Moment? 52:56

2M ago52:56

52:56

A Wuhan-developed AI agent went viral this weekend. Guests Rohit Krishnan of the substack Strange Loop Canon, Shawn Wang of Latent Space, and Dean Ball of Mercatus and Hyperdimensional join us to discuss. We get into What Manus is and isn't What Manus tells us about the broader AI ecosystem's ability to produce products we actually want to use The …

1
EMERGENCY POD: Trump's Pivot to Putin, AGI + The Future of Warfare 1:59:44

2M ago1:59:44

1:59:44

Note: This episode was recorded Wednesday February 26th, two days before Zelenskyy's press conference with J.D. Vance and Trump in the White House. Shashank Joshi (Defence Editor at The Economist) and Michael Horowitz (Biden's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Development and Emerging Capabilities, now back at Penn) come on the show t…

1
Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare 1:38:49

2M ago1:38:49

1:38:49

Can sanctions really work? What lessons can we draw from US sanctions on Iran, Russia, and China in the 21st century? To find out, we interviewed Eddie Fishman, a former civil servant at the Department of State and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia. His new book, Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, is a gripping history of th…

1
Innovation Emergency: The Role of IP 1:08:38

2M ago1:08:38

1:08:38

How do patents influence emerging technology innovation? How far could AI and DOGE push our current IP regime? Does it matter that China issues way more patents than the US does? To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed Andrei Iancu, who served as the director of the US Patent Office under the first Trump administration. Andrei has degrees in aerospace …

1
China's Great Power Wars: Lessons from Imperial History for Today 1:29:26

2M ago1:29:26

1:29:26

How has Chinese hegemony shaped power relations in East Asia? Why did imperial China conquer Tibet and Xinjiang but not Vietnam or Korea? Can learning from history help maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait? Today’s interview begins with one shocking truth — while medieval Europe suffered under near-constant war, East Asia’s Middle Ages were defined …

1
SemiAnalysis + Asianometry on the AI Mandate of Heaven 36:28

3M ago36:28

36:28

Dylan Patel and Doug O'Laughlin (SemiAnalysis), Jon from Asianometry and I have way too much fun talking hyperscaler capex, the AI mandate of heaven tier list, and Tim Cook succession plans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Jordan Schneider

1
Anthropic's Dario Amodei on AI Competition 44:18

3M ago44:18

44:18

Dario Amodei is the CEO of Anthropic. In today’s interview, we discuss… Whether an AI innovation race is inevitable between the US and China, How the US should update export controls in light of DeepSeek’s R1 release, DeepSeek’s willingness to generate information about bioweapons, Technical defenses against model distillation and AI espionage, How…

1
DeepSeek: What It Means and What Happens Next 1:11:54

3M ago1:11:54

1:11:54

Kevin Xu of Interconnected and Interconnected Capital and I knock it out of the park with a roundup episode exploring: What DeepSeek does and doesn't illustrate about Chinese innovation Tensions between open-source cosmopolitanism and nationalism built into DeepSeek and the broader Chinese tech community DeepSeek's organizational and talent managem…

1
EMERGENCY POD: DeepSeek R1 and the Future of AI Competition with Miles Brundage 32:33

3M ago32:33

32:33

Miles Brundage, a six year OpenAI vet who ran its Policy Research and AGI readiness arms, discuss why all your deepseek takes are so terrible. Outtro music: The Departure, Max Richter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R5Ppb9wqjY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Jordan Schneider

1
Patents and National Power 55:28

3M ago55:28

55:28

What makes some countries more innovative than others? What role do intellectual property rights play in building national power? Does Elon Musk really give competitors free access to Tesla’s patents? To find out, ChinaTalk interviewed Adam Mossoff, professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. We discuss… How the patent sy…

1
ChinaTalk in the Year of the Dragon + What Comes Next 34:50

3M ago34:50

34:50

Here's a best-of playlist for 2024: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3yexkG2kvPlq68B22pjOWw?si=da3d1cf64dfe4a2ci Outtro Music: Дили-дили (Dili-dili) Artist: Гюлли Чохели (Gyulli Chokheli), 1967 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Jordan Schneider

1
Noah Smith: Trump 2.0's Impact on Asia + The New Tech Right 1:09:48

3M ago1:09:48

1:09:48

Our guest today is economist Noah Smith, who made time for an in-person interview during his recent trip to Taiwan. He runs the Noahpinion substack and is the author of an upcoming book on the revival of the Japanese economy. We discuss… The goals of Silicon Valley's pro-Trump constituency, from deregulation, to tariffs, to China policy, Whether …

1
yup, more export controls....foundry, DRAM, and reflections 34:40

3M ago34:40

34:40

Greg Allen of CSIS and I are tired! We go through today's new export controls to stop TSMC from fabbing Huawei chips, some DRAM revisions, and discuss the past two years of Biden BIS policy and where we could all be going next. Outtro music: 大雨 - deca joins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFALDn1yGQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon…

1
EMERGENCY POD: AI Diffusion Export Controls 1:02:31

3M ago1:02:31

1:02:31

Biden last export control, for real this time! Who does and doesn't get to build datacenters under this new regulation? To discuss, we brought on RAND's Lennart Heim, Jimmy Goodrich, Chris Miller, and Dylan Patel. Outtro Music: Afida Es & the Siglap Boys - jangan goda, Malaysia, 1967 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvXrdwKST1U&ab_channel=schutbart …

1
Amb. Burns Reflects from Beijing 1:18:03

3M ago1:18:03

1:18:03

Can diplomatic charisma prevent crises from escalating? Does the CCP feel conflicted about aligning with the likes of Iran and North Korea? What’s the use of communicating during a great power competition? To find out, ChinaTalk interviewed R. Nicholas Burns, Biden’s Ambassador to China, whose diplomatic career spans 35 years and 8 countries. We di…

1
Tech Bros vs MAGA, Immigration, and Whether Tiger Parents Will Win Cold War 2.0 1:13:45

4M ago1:13:45

1:13:45

To discuss the Christmas Day MAGA civil war over H1Bs and the future of US immigration policy, ChinaTalk interviewed Divyansh Kaushik, a computer science PhD and vice president of Beacon Global Strategies. We get into… Pro-immigrant attitudes among Trump’s allies in Silicon Valley Creative political maneuvering that could make high-skill immigratio…

1
China's Best Music of 2024 54:41

4M ago54:41

54:41

Jake Newby is the author of Concrete Avalanche, a free newsletter about music from China. You might remember Jake from the Chinese shoegaze election playlist, or from the tracklist he presented on ChinaTalk back in June. Now that the year is over, Jake is here to introduce his picks for the overall most interesting songs to come out of China in 202…

1
AI Geopolitics in o3's Age with Chris Miller + Lennart Heim 1:29:35

4M ago1:29:35

1:29:35

Chris Miller of Chip War and Lennart Heim of RAND check in on the geopolitics of AI. We explore: Chinese labs' algorithmic progress (surprising to everyone but regular ChinaTalk listeners!) The geopolitical implications of scaling on test time compute What is and isn't working with US export controls And a whole lot more this was a great episode! T…

1
Chinese Pop Culture in 2024 1:06:35

4M ago1:06:35

1:06:35

We’ll be getting into the biggest tv show of 2024, a celebrity road trip “will they or won’t they divorce” show which is just as big of a hot mess as it sounds like, rigged nationalist singing competitions, megacorp boy idol capitalism corrupting something as seemingly innocent as a farming reality show, and xinjiang-set tv hit drama. Our guest tod…

1
Redefining the Workplace: Inside Alibaba’s New Shanghai Campus 37:13

5M ago37:13

37:13

This episode of Alicast takes you behind the scenes of Alibaba’s groundbreaking new Shanghai campus, a visionary project designed by the world-renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners. Known for iconic creations like Apple Park and the Gherkin, Foster + Partners has once again redefined workplace design, creating a space that blends transparen…

1
Top AI Stories of 2024/2025 + How to Train a Model with Nathan Lambert 48:13

5M ago48:13

48:13

Nathan Lambert of the excellent https://www.interconnects.ai/ newsletter and the Allen Institute joins the pod for a rundown of the biggest AI stories of this year and next. We also talk about what he's learned training advanced AI models at the Allen Institute. Outtro Music: Young and Holtful by Young-Holt Unlimited, 1969. https://open.spotify.com…

1
EMERGENCY POD: Biden's Final Export Controls Misfire? 1:30:32

5M ago1:30:32

1:30:32

Commerce released its much-anticipated chip export-control updates yesterday, December 2. But today's guests are unimpressed. But are we right to have hoped for more? To discuss, I’m joined by Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis and Greg Allen from CSIS. A disclaimer: We recorded this yesterday the same day the regs were released, and given their complexit…

1
SemiAnalysis on Top Chip Stories of 2024 27:49

5M ago27:49

27:49

Dylan Patel, Doug O'Laughlin, Jon from Asianometry and I all chat the biggest semiconductor stories of the year. We get into energy demands for datacenters, Intel, Samsung, Nvidia, SMIC, Huawei, Deepseek and the rise of ChatGPT. Outtro music: Sabicas, Carcelera (Reflejo Andaluz) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2_nX21D8Go Learn more about your ad c…

1
Makers of Modern Strategy with Hal Brands 1:08:49

5M ago1:08:49

1:08:49

Few books have influenced me as much as the Makers of Modern Strategy series. The three volumes (published in 1942, 1986, and 2023) are indispensable to understanding statecraft, leadership, and the evolution of warfare across millennia. The New Makers of Modern Strategy (2023) is a thousand pages long and analyzes strategy from ancient Greece to t…

1
Data Wars and the DOJ 52:24

6M ago52:24

52:24

To discuss the Department of Justice’s new proposed rule on data security, we interviewed two brilliant guests from the ChinaTalk Hall of Fame — DOJ National Security Division attorneys Lee Licata and Devin DeBacker. Before DOJ, Lee was an attorney at DHS and then CBP, while Devin was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and then worked with the Office of…

1
Music Hour! Chinese Hip Hop Annual Roundup 1:04:46

6M ago1:04:46

1:04:46

Antoine, aka 多多底料, is a French Mandarin teacher by day and a Chinese rap enthusiast by night. Today, he’s here with a setlist of his favorite hip hop tracks. His original songs can be found here. Bonne écoute! Track 1: 芳草地 (The Fragrant Meadow) by DIGI GHETTO (艾志恒Asen/thomeboydontkill/mac ova seas/KIV/Mula Sakee/付思遥) Track 2: 威远故事 (The Story of Wei…

1
Music Hour! Chinese Shoegaze: An Introduction 1:13:39

6M ago1:13:39

1:13:39

ChinaTalk columnist Alexa Pan and Jake Newby of the China music substack Concrete Avalanche (https://jakenewby.substack.com/) No election content whatsoever! 1. 'Hohhot Aquarium' - NarrowLaneAngel 窄巷天使 One of the stand-out acts from the Kind of Shoegaze Vol. 1 compilation focused on young Chinese bands that was released at the start of the year, Na…

1
Soviet Ruins and China's Future 1:43:05

6M ago1:43:05

1:43:05

Why did the Soviet Union collapse? Which lessons from Cold War history are relevant for China’s future? To discuss the successes, failures, and strategies of Soviet leaders, ChinaTalk interviewed Yakov Feygin. Feygin is the author of Building a Ruin: The Cold War Politics of Soviet Economic Reform, which examines how various Soviet leaders, institu…

1
AI Meets Global Commerce: Finding the Right Hammer for Every Nail 27:36

6M ago27:36

27:36

In this episode of Alicast, host Selina Zhang takes us inside Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming global business operations. Joining the conversation is Kaifu Zhang, Vice President and Head of AI Initiatives at Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (AIDC). From empowering small merchants…

1
中文版：打造矽盾：台積電與台灣的未來 1:30:56

7M ago1:30:56

1:30:56

林宏文是《晶片島上的光芒》一書的作者,這本書深入探討了台積電的歷史、管理方法和國際角色。作為台灣最資深的半導體記者之一、林宏文以其三十多年的行業經驗,為讀者呈現了一個全面而生動的台灣半導體產業發展故事。訪談中、主要討論了以下幾個關鍵話題: 台積電的創立背景及其在全球半導體產業中的獨特定位台灣政府在推動半導體產業發展中的角色,特別是工研院和科學園區的貢獻台積電的管理模式,包括研發與製造部門的平衡以及人才培養策略台灣半導體產業的國際競爭力,尤其是與三星等競爭對手的比較台積電在全球地緣政治中的角色,以及"矽盾"這一概念的由來和影響 AI時代對半導體產業的影響,特別是對記憶體和邏輯晶片整合的需求台灣與美國在看待國際關係上的差異,以及這種差異對台灣國際戰略的影響 Special thank…

1
Imperial Legacy Part 2: 1949 to Xi's Death 2:04:32

7M ago2:04:32

2:04:32

Welcome back to part two of our interview with Yasheng Huang 黄亚生, the author of The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline. We cover a lot of ground in this two-hour installment. During the first hour, we discuss… The aspects of imperial China’s governa…

1
Autocracy, Exams and Stagnation: Imperial China's Modern Legacy 1:15:27

7M ago1:15:27

1:15:27

Yasheng Huang 黄亚生 is the author of one of the decade’s greatest books about China — The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline. It’s a rich book, a product of a career of reflections, with each page delivering something novel and provocative. In this fi…

1
R&D Renaissance with Kumar Garg 1:15:38

7M ago1:15:38

1:15:38

To discuss America’s comparative advantages in national competition and the structural forces that drive (and limit) innovation, ChinaTalk interviewed Kumar Garg. Formerly an Obama official in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kumar spent several years at Schmidt Futures focusing on science and technology philanthropy. He has been a ment…

1
National Intel Council on The IC's Pivot to Asia 1:04:29

8M ago1:04:29

1:04:29

Michael Collins is the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council (NIC). He has spent 28 years in the intelligence community, starting as a career analyst in the CIA focused on East Asia before moving into leadership roles. He served as chief of staff for the CIA deputy director and worked on modernization efforts in the agency. We discuss… …

1
Competition Policy 2025 1:15:32

8M ago1:15:32

1:15:32

To discuss the post-election future of US competition policy, ChinaTalk interviewed Peter Harrell and Nazak Nikakhtar. Nazak served in the Trump administration after a long career as a civil servant, where she was instrumental in shaping the Commerce Department’s work on China, first at the International Trade Administration and later leading the B…

1
AI and the Rise and Fall of Great Powers 1:11:30

8M ago1:11:30

1:11:30

Jeffrey Ding is a professor at George Washington University, leading US scholar on China’s AI, and the creator of the ChinAI Substack. In honor of the publication of his new book, Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, enjoy this interview with Jeff from the ChinaTalk archives. Jeff Ding argues in a 2023 paper that great powers must harness gener…

1
History and Future of Global Patent Policy 57:49

8M ago57:49

57:49

Thanks to The Innovation Alliance for sponsoring this episode. The Innovation Alliance is a coalition of research and development-based technology companies representing innovators, patent owners, and stakeholders who believe in the critical importance of maintaining a strong patent system that supports innovative enterprises of all sizes. To discu…

1
Industrial Icebreaker Policy 1:06:37

9M ago1:06:37

1:06:37

Here at ChinaTalk, we break the ice on all things international relations, and today we are diving into a topic that is snow joke — icebreakers! We interviewed William Henagan and Robert Obayda, both directors of the NSC. We discuss: How Canada, Finland, and the United States are leveling up their cooperation in the Arctic through the Icebreaker Co…

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