China Tech Investor

Elliott and James welcome back Matthew Brennan to the show to discuss his new book: Attention Factory: The Story of Tiktok and China’s Bytedance. Matthew shares insights into the company’s beginnings as well as its meteoric rise, the people and personalities that define its culture, and how Tiktok came close to failing in the US.

Elliott and James welcome Joe Ridsdale, CEO of West Street Capital Partners. Joe explains why his firm is one of many who have a short position on Chinese ed-tech company GSX. The three of them also discuss the structural barriers to exposing fraud in such circumstances.

Elliott and James welcome IDC’s VP of Device Research Bryan Ma to the show. They discuss how Xiaomi is benefiting from Huawei’s international troubles, the foothold its continuing to establish in India and SE Asia, and how the pandemic has been a surprisingly good year for PC makers.

Elliott and James try to get their minds around Ant Group’s IPO, and attempt to explain the business behind what is likely to be the biggest IPO in history.

In an earnings season tradition, Elliott and James bring on Michael Norris to discuss the quarterly earnings reports of Alibaba, JD, and Pinduoduo, and discuss what investors should be looking for from them going forward.

Elliott and James welcome Kevin Xu to the podcast this week. Kevin is the author of Interconnected, a bilingual newsletter on tech, business, geopolitics, and US-China relations. The three guys discuss China’s cloud services landscape and its competitive dynamics. They also discuss TSMC and the intense competition in semiconductor development.

Elliott and James welcome Digital Asia Hub fellow Dev Lewis back to the podcast to discuss what a worsening diplomatic relationship between China and India means for Chinese tech companies in India, and what the future of India’s tech landscape will look like.

James and Ell also chat about the prospects of IPOs from Ant Financial and Didi Chuxing.

After taking some time to welcome his newborn son, James returns to his co-hosting duties, as he and Elliott welcome Bloomberg Chief Economist Tom Orlik to the pod to discuss Tom’s new book "China: The Bubble that Never Pops." Ell, James, and Tom discuss reasons to be optimistic about the future of the Chinese economy, and why it has avoided a major crisis in the decades following Reform and Opening Up.

James and Elliott also cover a few other hot topics in the news recently, such as the prospect of a Tiktok ban in the US.

This week, James is taking some time off with his newborn, so CTI regular Michael Norris fills in as cohost. He and Elliott discuss Alibaba, Bilibili, and Pinduoduo’s Q1 earnings, as well as what the possibility of Chinese companies delisting from US exchanges will mean for investors.

This week, the guys welcome Coindesk Asia Editor Wolfie Zhao to the pod to discuss the latest progress in China’s development of a digital currency, and also swap stories of the exciting and dynamic gray market in China that has built up around cryptocurrency mining and trading. James and Elliott also look into Pinduoduo’s 20-F and discuss the latest earnings reports from Tencent and JD.