Seen at Stanford during graduation weekend:
“AI is America’s leverage in the world of bits, while China’s supply chain is the leverage in the world of atoms.”
The implied advice to hardware founders was clear: don’t build manufacturing capacity in America. Take a small team to Shenzhen and treat China’s supply chain as your virtual factory.
I attended this session at Stanford, where the Shenzhen hardware ecosystem was being openly championed. I have no issue with founders leveraging the best global supply chains. But there is an obvious contradiction: Stanford frequently celebrates American dynamism while simultaneously encouraging its founders to depend on China for the world of atoms.
Photo taken by me at a session inside Stanford’s EVGR-C building last Friday.