From East to West
Lessons from China’s Tech Giants and Their Global Dominance.
China has always played a major role in the global economy—we are now seeing a new wave of technologies entering and flooding into Western markets inspired by what is taking place in the East.
Welcome back to another edition of New Economies, which is rooted in my experiences working in venture. We’re living in extraordinary times—the most exciting era ever for technology, with groundbreaking trends emerging constantly that will redefine how we live and work in the future. Join me on this journey—subscribe to New Economies to stay ahead of the curve in technology. We’re just getting started!
In this edition, we explore how Chinese companies have risen to global influence and what we can learn from them before discovering the latest technology trends coming from East to West.
This edition is in collaboration with Grace Shao, founder of AI Proem, which focuses on AI topics at the intersection of energy and geopolitics as well as deep dives on China’s big-tech AI strategies.
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The Rise of the Quiet AI Apps
Did you know 8 of the 50 on Fortune’s AI Innovator’s List are Chinese; however, they’re mostly going unnoticed in the U.S.
Chinese tech companies spent heavily on marketing previously to win the hearts of millennials and Gen-Z consumers in the West, from PDD Temu’s 2024 Super Bowl ad to Shein’s various collaborative campaigns, including one with Sriracha in Times Square. However, today we’re seeing AI applications taking a page out of the fashion playbook and adopting a “quiet luxury” approach.
What we’re seeing is that big Chinese tech developers are quietly rolling out products and taking up market share in the West without making a splash about it. Whether it’s to test the product-market fit first or for regulatory reasons––many of these Chinese companies are not mentioning they are originating out of China. Some platforms are going the extra mile to set up a legal entity in a geopolitically neutral location, such as Singapore as Grace wrote about in her recent article—’Singapore Is in Perfect Position to Court AI Companies From China.’
Essentially, what a lot of these platforms are adopting is the so-called “China shedding strategy.”
Since Trump began targeting TikTok in 2020 and demanding that ByteDance sell its U.S. business or face a ban, Chinese tech companies have become increasingly cautious. Kuaishou Technology launched a U.S.-based short-video app called Zynn, but it was swiftly shut down amid escalating tensions in late 2021. Meanwhile, Shein, the online fast-fashion retailer, shifted its 2025 IPO ambitions from New York to London. The consensus is clear: everyone is playing it safe, and no one is willing to take unnecessary risks.
We take a closer look at how Chinese apps have a competitive edge.
Chinese Apps’ Competitive Advantage
In China, tech giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, ByteDance, Xiaomi, and Huawei, have been at the forefront of China’s first internet revolution. From software to hardware, they laid the foundations for the astronomical growth of the country’s internet industry. As of today, they are still China’s most prolific technology platforms, incubating, nurturing, and playing a vital role in China’s consumer technology ecosystem. Grace wrote about Chinese-developed AI apps that are widely used in the West.
These tech giants are leveraging their expertise from the mobile internet era and applying it masterfully to the age of AI—the greatest technology shift in recent years. Their strength lies in creating user-friendly applications, powered by cutting-edge innovations and highly effective business models. We take a closer look at their playbook.
Large user base: Leveraging the massive reach of internet giants, such as Alibaba with ~935 million monthly active users (MAU) on Taobao, Tencent’s WeChat with ~1.38 billion MAU, ByteDance’s Douyin with ~1 billion MAU in China alone, and TikTok with ~1 billion global MAU, offers access to a wealth of user data for insights and learning.
Mobile-centric design: In China, consumers skipped past the credit card era and the desktop MSN era, most went straight from no internet to smartphones. This means often, they have much savvier intuitions when it comes to mobile app adoption. Chinese applications are optimized for smaller screens and touch interactions, prioritizing seamless user experiences that cater to on-the-go usage.
Super apps and multiple touch points: Platforms like WeChat and Alipay serve as super apps, integrating multiple functionalities—messaging, social media, e-commerce, and payments—into a single interface. This consolidation simplifies user interactions and enhances convenience, allowing applications to have various touch points with users through these super apps.
Strong integration of payment solutions: Seamless integration of payment systems within apps such as WeChat and Alipay has made it much easier for users to engage in e-commerce and other financial activities without leaving the app environment. Through these integrations, companies are also able to study user consumption behavior beyond just social activities.
We take a closer look at how Chinese apps are being adopted globally.
The Adoption of Chinese Apps
Thirty years ago, when we think of “Made in China,” we think of the physical products that have been manufactured in China. However, we are now witnessing a significant shift as an increasing number of Chinese apps have captured the Western markets and new AI apps are emerging to take on both local and global markets.
Consider TikTok, for instance—a platform with over a billion users worldwide. Other examples include Lark (also developed by ByteDance), a collaboration tool akin to Slack; CamScanner, one of the most widely used document scanning apps globally; and ShareIt, a popular file-sharing app. These innovations, all originating from China, are making a strong impact in Western markets.
What’s interesting is that Lark, CamScanner, and ShareIt are primarily software-focused tools, whereas TikTok is a consumer-first platform. Could this signal a growing trend of more SaaS companies emerging from China to serve Western markets? Share your thoughts in the comments!
The Power of Super Apps
Super apps are massively popular in China due to a combination of cultural, economic, and technological factors, that foster their growth and adoption. These apps, like WeChat and Alipay, integrate diverse services—social media, e-commerce, payments, transportation, and more—into a single platform, creating a seamless digital ecosystem for users.
Why are they so popular?
Everything you need in one place
Chinese and Asian consumers tend to be much busier and prefer everything to happen at once, on a single interface.
User experience
Western applications have a much cleaner design, mostly a white background with simple buttons for purchasing, whereas Chinese apps are busier with colorful pop-up ads and buttons for liking or giving flowers or gifts to creators.
Owning the customer journey
Chinese tech companies tend to control the entire service chain, much like Alibaba. For example, JD.com operates its own logistics arm, uses robotics-driven warehouses, and even has its own cargo air fleet. Being part of the Tencent ecosystem, JD.com also sets WeChat Pay as its default payment option.
Trends coming from East to West
Electric cars
The race to build as many electric cars is on, and the number of electric Chinese cars being exported is moving at a staggering pace. China is currently exporting most of its cars and trucks to Russia, United States, Mexico, United Kingdom and Belgium (in order of $ value) according to The World Economic Forum. The strongest contenders include Saic, Tesla, Geely Auto, Baic and Byd who are the leading electric car manufacturers in China. Four of the five top brands are Chinese apart from Tesla.
Clean Energy
China is the undisputed global leader in renewable energy, particularly in solar panel production, wind energy installations, and the development of EV battery technology. It manufactures over 70% of the world’s solar panels, driven by advanced manufacturing capabilities and cost efficiency. In wind energy, China boasts the largest installed capacity globally, with substantial investments in both onshore and offshore wind farms.
Live Shopping
Live shopping has been huge in China for many years and it has slowly moved West with the likes of Whatnot becoming one of the most active platforms, based out of the U.S. The easiest way to describe live shopping is a combination of TikTok and Amazon—you can purchase directly from your favorite creators on the likes of Taobao, Douyin, Weibo and JD Live—all of which offer live shopping.
Although live shopping works really well in Asia, interestingly, we have never really seen platforms take off in Europe (especially startups)—potentially one reason being, the complex supply chain challenges involved.
AI Unicorns
We recently mapped out the AI Unicorns Landscape, discovering the latest unicorns, building AI technologies that are emerging out of ecosystems globally—discovering China taking second place in unicorns produced.
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I loved learning about the competitive advantages like mobile-first design, super apps, and payment integration that have fueled growth.
China still has so much leverage and innovation that other regions and countries just cannot match. Even if their economic trajectory might not be the same post 2022, that doesn't not necessarily mean that their technological prowess is any less impressive.
We have seen that with the Qwen and Deepseek models recently in open source AI. China's going to be a powerhouse in things like biotech and Robotics. It's clear their efforts in space technology in space mining will rival even the best companies of the United States sooner than later.