In this episode of the High Capacity podcast, I talk with Matt Sheehan, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, about the next phase of the US-China AI race: AI safety, open-source models, AI agents, job displacement, and what the US and China might discuss with each other.

As the U.S. and China prepare for formal talks on AI, both sides are wrestling with a fast-changing technology landscape. The U.S. is increasingly worried about frontier model risks, cyber threats, non-state actors, and pre-release testing. China, meanwhile, is becoming more concerned about AI’s impact on jobs, social stability, political control, and the rise of autonomous AI agents.

We discuss what China really fears about AI, why Beijing’s AI governance strategy is shifting from control to deployment to broader regulation, how open-source AI might complicate safety talks, and what realistic US-China talks on AI might look like.

Topics covered:

U.S.-China AI talks, AI safety, Chinese AI policy, AI agents, OpenClaw, open-source AI, frontier models, cyber risk, AI job displacement, China’s AI regulations, autonomous weapons, AI hotlines, and the future of AI governance.

Links:

- Matt Sheehan’s Substack

- Matt Sheehan’s Carnegie page

- “China is getting worried about AI & jobs”

- “China Is Worried About AI Companions. Here’s What It’s Doing About Them.”

- Matt Sheehan on Twitter: @mattsheehan88

For transcripts and more, check out the ⁠High Capacity newsletter⁠

More about the host, Kyle Chan, fellow at Brookings

China’s biotech and healthcare sectors are evolving at extraordinary speed — from AI-powered “doctor avatars” and digital health super apps to a wave of Chinese drug innovation reshaping the global pharmaceutical industry.

In this episode, I speak with physician and healthcare strategist Dr. Ruby Wang about the latest trends in China's AI + healthcare innovation.We discuss:

• Why Western pharma companies are rushing to license Chinese drugs
• China’s rise as a global biotech powerhouse
• AI doctors, digital hospitals, and health super apps
• The role of Alibaba, Ant Group, and DeepSeek in healthcare
• Why China’s healthcare digitization is moving faster than the West
• The future of AI in medicine and diagnosticsChinese medical devices, robotics, and healthcare hardware
• How Chinese regulators accelerated biotech innovation
• Whether healthcare can become China’s next major global export industry
• The challenges China still faces in healthcare access and inequality

Ruby Wang is a UK-trained physician, founder of China Health Pulse, and author of the upcoming book China Cure, which explores the global impact of China’s biotech and AI healthcare advances.

Links:

China Health Pulse newsletter and podcast: https://www.chinahealthpulse.com/

For transcripts and more, check out the ⁠High Capacity newsletter⁠: https://www.highcapacity.org/

More about the host, Kyle Chan: https://www.kyleichan.com/

China is racing to build its own complete semiconductor industry, from AI chips and fabs to chipmaking tools like EUV lithography machines. I'm joined by industry expert Paul Triolo.

00:28 China’s Semiconductor Self-Reliance Push

11:50 How Huawei Became China’s Chip Champion

17:37 Huawei, SMIC, and the Fight for Fab Capacity

24:14 Can China Build Its Own EUV Lithography Machines?

36:55 DeepSeek, Huawei, and China’s AI Chip Feedback Loop

53:53 Why Chinese Tech Giants Are Designing Their Own Chips

Links:

• American Affairs: “Innovation Under Pressure: China’s Semiconductor Industry at a Crossroads”
• Paul Triolo on X: @pstAsiaTech
• Paul Triolo's Substack: AIStackDecrypted

For transcripts and more, check out the ⁠High Capacity newsletter⁠.

Hosted by Kyle Chan

In this special crossover episode, I talk with TP Huang about the broader AI supply chain beyond just models and chips. We cover the new DeepSeek V4 model and China’s efforts to integrate with domestic AI chips. We talk about energy infrastructure, like inverters and transformers. And we discuss the robotics supply chain and how this overlaps with smartphones, EVs, and other industries in China.

Note: TP Huang is not on video, just audio.

00:00 Intro

01:13 DeepSeek V4 and Huawei chips

13:01 Hardware and Infrastructure Bottlenecks

21:03 Energy supply chain

29:58 Edge AI and small models

35:14 Embodied AI and robotics

39:14 China's robotics supply chain

45:43 Different tech paths

53:32 Commercializing scientific advances

58:44 Personal journeys in China tech

Links:

• Follow TP Huang on Twitter / X

• TP’s Substack and China Tech Talk podcast

For transcripts and more, check out the High Capacity newsletter.

I'm your host, Kyle Chan, a Fellow at Brookings.

This episode, I talk with Zixuan Li at Z.ai, one of China's top AI labs and the company behind the popular GLM models. Zixuan is Z.ai's Director of Product for genAI strategy and global partnerships. We discuss Z.ai's newest flagship AI model, the challenges of building agentic AI models, and what their longer AI strategy looks like.

00:00 Intro to Zixuan Li of Z.ai

00:29 GLM-5.1, Z.ai's Newest Flagship Model

04:34 Long Horizon Tasks

08:33 GLM Family of Foundation Models

14:30 Challenges in Developing Agentic AI Models

19:37 Working with Chinese AI Chipmakers

22:53 Open Source vs. Proprietary Models

36:49 Life After IPO and Chasing AGI

41:37 Z.ai's Global Strategy

Links:

• Z.ai
• GLM-5.1: Towards Long-Horizon Tasks
• Zixuan on X/Twitter

For transcripts and more, check out the High Capacity newsletter.

Rui Ma, founder of Tech Buzz China, explains the real sources of China's tech strengths and where the US still has the advantage. From industrial parks to capital markets, we talk about how to understand China's tech landscape at a deeper level -- and why so many people are eager to tour Chinese factories.Links:

• Tech Buzz China
• Tech Buzz China newsletter
• Rui Ma on X / Twitter

For transcripts and more, check out the High Capacity newsletter

Tom Wang, Hugging Face's head of APAC ecosystem, joins me to talk about the latest wave of Chinese AI models, how China's AI open source ecosystem works, the rise of AI agents and OpenClaw in China, and more.Links:- Tom Wang on Twitter / X- Tom Wang on Hugging FaceFor transcripts and more, check out the High Capacity newsletter

From DeepSeek to Kimi, China's open-source AI models have gotten all the attention. But open source has a much longer history in China, according to Kevin Xu, former head of global expansion strategy at GitHub. Kevin takes us on a journey through China's open source evolution, from its grassroots beginnings to its central role today in China's AI strategy. We also get into the current OpenClaw craze in China and why Chinese tech firms seem to be jumping in faster than their American peers.

00:00 Intro to Kevin Xu

04:21 Early days of Chinese open source

16:11 1024 Programmers' Day and 996.ICU

27:33 Huawei enters the game

41:57 DeepSeek moment

51:17 China's OpenClaw frenzy

56:40 Will China keep doing open-source?

Links:

• Chinese Open Source: A Definitive History
• Kevin Xu's Interconnected newsletter
• Interconnected Capital
• Kevin Xu on Twitter / X

For transcripts and more, check out the High Capacity newsletter