The Tech Cold War with Tim Culpan

In Episode 306, Tim Culpan, columnist from Bloomberg, joined us in a conversation to discuss the tech cold war. Starting from the definition when the event started with US ban on Huawei, Tim explained how the global technology supply chain will be affected in the process from Foxconn, TSMC to Apple. Tim also offered his perspectives on the recent change in leadership within Foxconn, Alibaba’s listing in Hong Kong as a hedge and the impact fo the tech cold war on SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• Tim Culpan (@tculpan, Linkedin, Bloomberg), Columnist at Bloomberg [0:17]
  • Since our last conversation, what have you been up to? [0:31]
• The Tech Cold War [0:58]
  • You have recently written that May 19 is an important date for the turn of China and US relationship starting with Huawei placed on the ban, why do you characterize it as the tech cold war? [1:03]
  • Is it way past the Thucydides Trap now for US and China? [3:14]
  • With the US and China trade war breaking the global supply chain, particularly its implications to Huawei, Apple, TSMC, Foxconn and many others involved? [3:34] 
  • Is Alibaba’s upcoming listing in Hong Kong Stock Exchange a way to have a hedge against themselves in the US market? [6:32]
  • Let’s start with Foxconn, can you describe the interesting happenings in the Foxconn leadership because of Terry Gou’s decision to run for the Taiwan Presidency and what does it mean for the company? [9:27]
  • Given your understanding of Terry Gou and if he wins, what will he be like as the Taiwan president? [11:25]
  • Does everyone shares Masa’s vision with Vision Fund? [13:50]
  • What does the tech cold war means for SoftBank given that the fund invests in both US and China? [15:51]
  • Are we in a peak SoftBank? [17:29] 
  • What are your thoughts with Masa’s recent floating of an idea to float the Vision Fund public? [18:42]
  • What will we be expecting in the next couple of months or what should we look out for with the tech cold war coming? [19:45]
• Closing [22:00]
  • Can you recommend a book, movie, podcast or anything else that has recently impact your personal or work life? [22:08]
    • Tim’s recommendation: The 996 Podcast by GGV Capital & The Extramilest podcast.
  • Where can my audience find you? [23:06]

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The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong & weibo) until 30 June 2019 and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, “The Beginning” from Red Cliff Soundtrack and this episode is edited by Carol Yin, and co-produced by Carol Yin and Bernard Leong. This episode is recorded in June 2019.