Billionaire co-founder of BYD uncertain about China’s ability to create breakthrough tech on par with ChatGPT

Xia Zuoquan says a lack of fundamental research and an underdeveloped capital market hurt China’s chances of developing ChatGPT-like tech in the short term. The entrepreneur, who bet early on the world’s largest EV maker, is cautious about investing in Chinese startups working on large language models. — SCMP

Xia Zuoquan, a Chinese billionaire investor who made his fortune betting on the once tiny battery maker BYD, is less certain about China’s ability to make big technological breakthroughs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT in the near future.

While the 1995 investment in BYD, now the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, has earned him enormous returns, Xia sees the lack of fundamental research or a mature capital market as an obstacle for China to make technological breakthroughs.