The list goes on for products and services they cloned from western innovation. China didn't get there first in any of the categories you listed. Of course, people would rather spend less than more, disregarding the quality and longevity of the product.
Paying pennies on the dollar for a BYD vehicle sounds great when all you consider is the initial sticker price. The real cost is what happens after you buy the disposable car and own it for a decade.
So yea. Second place is the reality and it is also true for AI models, and the hardware needed to run them.
Also, congratulations on landing a rocket 11 years after the US.
From where I’m sitting in Europe, Tesla feels like the disposable car. Gatekeeping repairs and parts and more quality defects needing post shipment corrections than other brands.
To take a concept and refine it to reach mass production is success. It is what made the US what you believe it is today and it is what is creating a healthy supply chain in China. Just look at the challenges of Destin of Smarter Every Day[1] when producing a grill scrubber using only US suppliers and materials.
A “Made in the USA” label is no guarantee of superior design or manufacturing quality to me but if Japan is mentioned I have a greater confidence in the quality of the product.
TikTok: achieved global cultural and algorithmic dominance.
DJI: controls roughly 70% of the global consumer and commercial drone market.
CATL: The world’s largest EV battery manufacturer.
BYD: Surpassed Tesla in total electric vehicle production volume.
Shein & Temu
The list goes on…