it's not that huge of a deal if you compare commercial costs in china and cheapest us states, and electricity is only one of the factors.
The real reason: anthropic + openai just cut the reasoning output to prevent distill, and hence you see the rise of chinese models to establish contracts globally .
I've heard on podcasts that AI data centers in the US are powered by natural gas. Apparently there is currently a glut of natural gas. So the energy costs are actually pretty low in the US.
In China the state and corporations can blend so it's difficult to tell the difference between the two. It is known for government sponsored dumping to meet some state goal or another.
This runs counter to the last 50 years of American propaganda espousing the inefficiency of government. If the Chinese government can just throw money at industries and have them flourish, why can't other governments?
I believe it is more complicated than simply “throwing money at industries”. It seems to me that in China, the Government actually runs the country, while in the US, private capital does.
Government central planning and industrial policy is always less efficient than free markets. But government can sometimes be more effective in accomplishing critical strategic goals when those are more important than efficiency.
Doubt it is best. Taiwan China and Singapore easily better than SKorea. Singapore is more unique where everything is resources tight they still able to create that system.
> If the Chinese government can just throw money at industries and have them flourish, why can't other governments?
One possibility that seems likely to me: it takes longer than a single election cycle for an investment like that to bear fruit. And you have to be willing to admit that some bets the state places will lose. This is harder in the kind of democracy and political climate that the US currently has. China's government has more continuity of leadership and a strong emphasis on stability that seem hard to achieve in the US without a lot more political cohesion and more nuanced opposition than the two-party system currently affords.
If we could achieve it, though, it'd be awesome. Some "best of both worlds" stuff.
Chinese ghost cities you see online already non ghost cities. Ever wonder why ghost cities topic no longer trending on YT and Twitter? You are 10 years behind the propaganda. Now is more of Xinjiang enslavement even though Chinese factories run without lights using robots. But hey narrative is important to keep population control. Ever wonder what happen to XiaoHongShui access in America? It scare the shit out of government and American media just stop highlighting it.
The US government could throw tons of money at everything and get some good results, that doesn't mean it would be efficient. And their system is fundamentally different, I think most westerners would appreciate less efficient AI companies in return for democracy and human rights.
Highly recommend everyone check out Breakneck. Felt like that gave me my first real insight into the relationship of the government and business in China.
It is basically Tang dynasty with tech and CCP members or politburo running the country instead of just 1 emperor. It is deeply ingrain into Chinese culture for 5 millennia. The closest thing is like American arguing about 1st and the love of guns. We are at around LiSiMin CCP peak China. Hopefully there won't be a repeat of Anlushan like incident. America system is really oligarchy cowboys with private cowboys taking turn running the government supported by other cowboys.
Chinese students study like it is Battle Royale Squid Game. Just read up what is Gaokao. And boosted by nearly 1/3 of household income for extra classes. And other study resources. You have that in America but the volume is closer to 500 to 1. This is why before Trump you see American colleges saturated with 20%+ Chinese students. India also the same but the second factor comes in. Proximity. They build universities powerplant factories port airports in cluster. So wastage due to "in between logistics" minimized. And finally everything is way way cheaper in China compare to even cheapest American town. So even if corruption is bad, the underlying structure ensure efficient output multitude higher than peak America. Another country have similar design is Singapore but they lack the talents and resources of China. This can't be replicated in America. American parents don't go nuts spending 30-60% HOUSEHOLD income for education. Most American parents already struggling paying gas and electricity bills. At best they give their children access to TikTok and Snapchat and hint them do sports like Tiger or Beyonce twerking to fame and wealth.
You are way behind about China. That was 60s about 60 years ago! Today China is robots. China has way more robots than Japan America and EU all add up together! Their factories run by robots not slaves. You should consider visiting Shenzhen and see for yourself. Or if you are lucky can ask your Chinese friends to register you WeChat and Baidu account and create China version of Rednote XiaoHongShu. That place has uncensored Chinese day to day lifestyle. What you see on America media like YT X FB are heavily censored about China. Things about government is censored. But lifestyle not much. Almost everything in America is censored or fake flooded. You have to be outside of America like in Germany or Indonesia to really see how censored American from what is going on outside of America.
Any government can and does regularly throw money at industries to make them flourish. The American propaganda claims that this is less efficient than letting market forces decide which companies win.
The rest is mostly hardware depreciation.