Patrick McGee

Author of Apple in China — named a top book of 2025 by The New York Times, Foreign Affairs & the New Yorker. Contributor at @TheFP & @FT 🇨🇦

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

Life highlight might be Jon Stewart calling my book “jaw dropping” and “phenomenal.”

Massive thanks to everyone @TheDailyShow. Totally surreal to be there.

Book is on sale now.

https://t.co/pNbzJGzcmV

[Sudarshan Ramabadran @sudarshanr108]

One of the most consequential books I’ve read in recent times. A deep dive across 6 parts and 40 odd chapters into Apple, China & Geopolitics. Kudos @PatrickMcGee_

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

Great (but scary) framing from Niall Ferguson: this dangerous moment in AI requires historic leadership. Instead we have tech egomaniacs, a reality TV star and a Leninist.

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

Good explanation of China’s industrial policy

https://t.co/5Qj9Jlkwjb @FT

[Rohan Sandhu @Rohan_Sandhu]

.@PatrickMcGee_ on Intel, which could either give TSMC a run for its money and rewrite the U.S.'s role in the world, or collapse entirely as a company: "It’s strange for a company worth $600 billion to have such a binary future."

[edgar @0xEdgar]

TIL Apple was flying so many employees between SF and China that they convinced United Airlines to add a direct flight from SF to Chengdu 3x a week

absurd amount of scale

[Geoffrey Cain @geoffrey_cain]

I dug this up from my reporter's notebook on STEVE JOBS IN EXILE. One of the lesser-known stories: Steve was doing business with intelligence agencies at NeXT.

One of Steve's closest colleagues let me go through his private archives. I was going through them when Ross Perot (later a presidential candidate), references to the military and intelligence started showing up.

Ross Perot opened the door for Steve as an investor and board member at NeXT. He and Jobs shook hands on a plan to land government contracts.

Before long the spies were turning up at NeXT HQ in plain clothes, with no business cards, only giving generic first names like Bob and Sally. They wanted the NeXT Cube, Steve's computer, as a spy machine. It could process satellite imagery in real time, and its optical disks could be destroyed right after reading, so nothing classified ever stayed on a drive. (All this was novel in the 1980s.)

But despite his earlier agreement with Ross, Steve decided he didn't want to be there. He had spent his career preaching his mission to build computers for the rest of us. Selling machines to Langley cut against his core values. He told his own people he didn't trust the feds.

The agencies set up a demo for him at one point, a secure site outside Washington. A former CIA chief, whose office put the first high-resolution spy satellites into space, waited in the NeXT parking lot for Jobs to pull up. He never came.

"I don't want to do business with the federal government," Steve told a colleague, and that was the end of it that day.

NeXT was running low on cash, though, and the government had plenty of it. So Steve had to choose, eventually. And this was one of the more tension-fueled parts of his life at NeXT.

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

Conan salvaged 2026 commencement speech season with his Harvard commencent roast:

“The first graduating class in 1642 had only 9 graduates…and somehow they were all legacies. No university in our nation has produced more Nobel laureates or white-collar criminals. So, whether you choose good or evil, know that you are among the very best.”

[Wydawnictwo Insignis @insignis_media]

Książka „Apple w Chinach” @PatrickMcGee_ wydana przez @Przeswity – must read dla każdego, kto zastanawia się, co doprowadziło do tak błyskawicznego rozwoju Chin oraz co z tego wynika dla nas wszystkich. No i dlaczego BYD ma takie fajne systemy multimedialne w swoich samochodach. Lektura z tych miażdżących. Zapiera dech. Polecamy! [Officially endorsed by Insignis 👍🏻]

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

@nickbilton Huge congratulations. What is the “how to write a murder mystery” book you recommend? I’m listening to an interview and am very intrigued.

[Worldwide Speakers Group @wwsgdc]

In a new article for The Free Press, Patrick McGee examines Intel’s dramatic comeback and why the future of semiconductor manufacturing could determine America’s economic and technological security.

Drawing on years of reporting covering global supply chains, AI, and China, McGee explains how Intel’s fight to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has become far bigger than Wall Street.

Read the full article and contact WWSG to host @PatrickMcGee_ for conversations on technology, geopolitics, and the future of global business. https://t.co/4GTeiJGClZ

[Oliver Wiseman @ollywiseman]

Today from @TheFP

- @SnoozyWeiss sits down with Scooter Braun
- @EliLake profiles Elbridge Colby
- @AbigailShrier issues some tough love
- @PatrickMcGee_ on Intel's miraculous turnaround - and why it matters
- @katrosenfield on Belle Burden and the publishing controversy of the year.

All that and more. Do yourself a favor and subscribe today!

https://t.co/xgtzT0jLrl

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

Can @Intel save America?

Its stock is up almost 500% in a single year. This could matter far more to America than to shareholders.

Today’s column in The Free Press

https://t.co/CzC2dMTWUq @TheFP

[Soumaya Keynes @SoumayaKeynes]

After many months of waiting, HOW TO WIN A TRADE WAR is officially out today!!!

Get your copy at any retailer linked here:
US: https://t.co/8XXAKcpxCj
UK: https://t.co/3fWmNVZd7c

[Geoffrey Cain @geoffrey_cain]

I'll moderate a panel about STEVE JOBS IN EXILE at the @ComputerHistory Museum tonight, featuring NeXT and @Apple all-stars: Dan'l Lewin, Bud Tribble, Avie Tevanian, Rich Page (by video). 7pm Pacific time.

In-person tickets are sold out, but you can join on YouTube here: https://t.co/UopAnNA8rP

[Rush Doshi @RushDoshi]

Presented without comment.

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

@hugo_fo I’m treating China as an industrial actor. For the purposes of this lead, it doesn’t matter whether the company is private, state-owned, or some combination.

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

There are only two industrial actors in the world attempting to vertically integrate electric vehicles, batteries, chips, robotics, and artificial intelligence. One is China. The other is an industrial conglomerate overseen by a single person: Elon Musk.

https://t.co/q1udeBWWnl

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

@hugo_fo You’re literally making my point.

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

With @SpaceX officially filing to go public, here’s my column on why this all matters:

https://t.co/q1udeBWWnl

[Patrick McGee @PatrickMcGee_]

Just out: Chip War author @crmiller1 talks with Jon Stewart:

https://t.co/DAsU1PPvLa