Elon Musk comments on China's power plans.

Elon Musk comments on China's power plans.

#ElonMusk

Source: CNBC

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
China has so many power plants that have been built
and are being built. I don't think people quite realize this.
I posted on my ex account just the graph of
US power generation versus China power generation, and China power
generation is like looks like a rocket going a little
bit and US power generation is flat. Right. So I
think by the end of this year, China will have

(00:21):
about two and a half times the power output of
the United States, and it's headed towards maybe three or
four times the power output of the United States.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's funny when think about China, I mean evs autonomous.
We talked about batteries, solar power generation, by the way,
even biotechnology recently, I don't know if you saw Pfizer's
licensing cancer drugs. Yeah, they seem to be I don't know.
I'll ask you the question, are they ahead of us
in certain areas that are important?

Speaker 1 (00:51):
The United States still has an advantage in breakthrough innovation,
But so it's the United and I think it's it's
somewhat of a cultural thing, which is that to have
breakthrough innovation, you have to question authority that fundamentally, your
break through, your your You're questioning the conventional wisdom when

(01:14):
you do a breakthrough innovation, and in China that that
I don't generally like to question the authority or that's
that's just that's not it's not as encouraged as it
is in the US.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Questioning authority does seem to be good at finding something
and then making it better.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, I just I do what says that the sheer
number of smart, talented people in UH in China who
work very hard is amazing that the amount of that's
just the share quantity of talent. I mean, I'm an
admirer of of of China's capabilities. I think I think

(01:52):
most people outside of China do not understand the power
of China. It really is something something special.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
And I think that's the exact point that a lot
of a China bulls out there are talking about, and
this is something they're saying that the Western world doesn't
really understand the talent factor. And even when it comes
to AI. He seemed to hesitate a little bit when
the question from David Favor was really trying to compare

(02:20):
the US and China when it comes to how embedded
AI is, and he instead decided to talk about how
it's difficult for Chinese companies to perhaps say no to
the authorities because of the cultural difference and so on.
But I think, you know, with that, I think he
was trying to insinuate that there is that amazing capabilities

(02:43):
that he is appreciating about the Chinese economy.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, indeed, we'll get more about I we'll talk more
about Chinese just a bit. But you know, the US
side of it and the energy. I mean, the fact
of the matter is the US is finally now energy independent.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Right.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
The resources are there, right, they're net exporters of energy, right,
It's more the ability to convert that energy, whether it's
oil or shale or whatever, or net gas right into
power and electricity. I think that's where the US is
clearly falling short of China. And China, as we all know,
is leading the world in renewable energy right whin hydro solar,

(03:21):
et cetera, and also building a heck of a lot
of nuclear plants. But on to the point about you know,
Musk saying that, you know, yeah, they're cracking out a
lot of degree holders, and you know, filing a lot
of scientific patents, and there's just so many smart people,
so much gray matter in China. But you know, innovation
has its limits when you're in a system where you

(03:44):
can't buck authority. I want to push back on that
because what a lot of people say is, you know,
even in that kind of top down communist system, right,
there's a lot of decentralization. Right, she's in pain and
the Paul Beer may say whatever they want, right, but
it's going to be down to the provinces to actually execute.

(04:05):
I think that's where as we saw it with EV's
and we're likely to see with AI as well, they
pretty much made their own decisions. In fact, historically that's
been one of the biggest problems for the central government
controlling the provinces.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
I think the question boils down to when the control
is exercise. So I think over the past years and
EV is a good example of that, and that this
is actually the point that Louis Vincent gov was talking
about on our air just a few weeks ago, that
they let them go the private companies to do your thing,

(04:38):
figure it out, and we will let you innovate. At
some point the central government would come in and say, okay,
so there are too many of you, perhaps you can
consolidate with A and B and the CND, and then
we have actually a very powerful influence in this particular
sector that has been the China playbook. And perhaps that's
what's been happening, not just evs but in other sects.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
And I tell you what, you know, there's nothing that
generates innovation and new ideas than that kind of competition.
It is brutal, it is cut through it, and you're right,
you know. There are times when the Chinese government steps
in and says, okay, look this is messy, inefficient, Look
you merged with you merged with you. Other times the
Chinese government just stands aside and goes, okay, so you
didn't make it. You failed too bad. Right, they're waiting,

(05:23):
they're letting these guys fight it out, and they're waiting
to see, okay, so who's got what it takes to
make it? And ah, okay, so you did despite all
the challenges. So all right, you deserve to be a champ.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Backly, so, Louis gov was talking about how because it's
a communist system that it's not going to work economically.
That is the misconception that he wanted to point out,
And maybe that is really the thing that we're going
on about I do want to have a line on
power transformer. Sorry, because Elon Musk was talking, I thought
it was really cute when he was saying the transformers

(05:57):
needing transformers for transformers, power transformers. The top exporting, top
exporting countries to the United States, Get this, Mexico. That
was a surprise to me. South Korea, China, and Germany. Yeah,

(06:18):
who is at an advantage. I think it's very interesting
to look at this massive rally that we've been seeing
in South Korea's power transformer sector. They had a massive
rally on the US export story. Does this continue with
Elon Musk himself talking about how there is that shortage
coming up?

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Don't know, watch this space exactly all right,