How companies from a Chinese city that practically did not exist 40 years ago are a bellwether of the growing and fractious technological divide with Europe and the U.S.
The media reporting out of Shenzhen a couple of weeks back is likely to have elicited gaping yawns from many, given it seemed to be about yet another implausibly large metropolis in China with an unfathomable gaggle of non-descript skyscrapers – the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, celebrating a largely symbolic anniversary with his coterie in tow.
Outgrowing Hong Kong
Since it was denominated a special economic zone in 1980, the city has indeed grown from what was once essentially a fishing village, a train station and a customs outpost, or a mix of them, depending on what you read. Barely a quarter of an hour away from Hong Kong by high-speed rail, it has now surpassed its more famous cohort in population, GDP and, of paramount importance regionally, very tall buildings.
Silicon Dam
But besides the unending reams of slab-to-slab glass panes, the key thing about the city is that it is home to Huawei, DJI and Tencent. The three companies, as well as numerous others, many in the artificial intelligence field, are among a chosen few that can weave freely in and out of the so-called «Great Firewall» in China, a complex, multi-layered system that censors and controls the internet, blocking access to Google, Facebook, Twitter, and similar.
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