There's "China speed," the pace at which platforms get built, scaled, and exported across the Pacific. And then there's "Shenzhen speed," which is fast enough to surprise the Chinese themselves. I just spent a week there at a Prosus tech conference. Beyond participating as one of the keynotes, the bigger takeaway was listening to the Chinese AI landscape unfold with founders speaking on building robots, AR glasses, and frontier models. The programming was very thoroughly put

What does being at NRF feel like? Well, have you been to a music festival? There are stages everywhere, different speakers happening at the same time, and the whole place feels like a maze. NRF is basically the biggest music festival for retail. Instead of bands, you have brands! It’s the perfect forum for the companies that help power retail to take the stage and share their learnings and predictions for what’s to come. The Excitement of NRF Of course, since yours truly is o

Introduction to AI in China’s Tech Ecosystem China has emerged as a global leader in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) across its vast digital landscape, especially within mobile applications. The country is home to the world’s largest e-commerce market (≈CNY 15.4 trillion, or $2.2 trillion in 2023)trade.gov, and its tech giants are infusing AI into nearly every aspect of the online shopping journey. From algorithm-driven product recommendations to augmented reality try

Introduction China’s “Double 11” (Singles’ Day) 2025 shopping festival – now in its 17th year – has evolved from a one-day flash sale into a month-long showcase of retail innovation and consumer engagement. This year’s event shattered records with an estimated ¥1.695 trillion in gross merchandise value (about $238 billion) across platforms[1], far eclipsing the combined sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S.[2]. More importantly, Double 11 has transcended raw sale

Last week, DeepSeek tore through the US stock market with an announcement that shook Wall Street. As we grapple with the instability of our economy with Trump’s tariff announcement, this disruption adds much fuel to the fire. Since I’ve covered so many Chinese apps in the past (many of which are embedded in my book) I thought it was only appropriate to be investigating more into this company that has made global shockwaves. What you need to know: Wall Street investors are que

The Tik Tok ban is looming. And users have a couple of routes to go. While most analysts are putting bets on the stock market with Meta and Youtube as benefactors (Meta stands from a $19 billion boost in ad revenue this year from the ban), actual Tik Tok users have a slightly different story. Calling themselves the #TikTokRefugees, millions of Tik Tok users flocked to RED (Little Red Book/Xiaohongshu). We saw RED (Little Red Book/Xiaohongshu) surge to the number one spot in t