China's 'Fantastic Four': the new breed of entrepreneurs reshaping the global tech landscape

A caller procreation of Chinese entrepreneurs, represented by a radical of start-up founders known arsenic the "Fantastic Four", are reshaping the planetary exertion scenery and helping China successful its rivalry with the US.

Liang Wenfeng, laminitis of Hangzhou-based artificial quality (AI) start-up DeepSeek, on with Wang Xingxing, Zhang Yiming and Wang Tao, the founders of Unitree Robotics, ByteDance and DJI, respectively, are being hailed for their relation successful transforming China into a formidable tech power.

DeepSeek's Liang and Unitree's Wang were among a radical of section concern entrepreneurs invited to a high-profile symposium chaired by President Xi Jinping past month. Wang, the youngest entrepreneur astatine the gathering astatine conscionable 35 years old, told Xi that the humanoid robot developer and its squad were "born and raised successful China".

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Xi responded that the country's innovation required contributions from a younger generation, according to a study from the authoritative Communist Party paper People's Daily.

Unlike the erstwhile procreation of Chinese tech entrepreneurs who grew up with memories of implicit poorness - specified arsenic Alibaba Group Holding's Jack Ma, Baidu's Robin Li Yanhong and Tencent Holdings' Pony Ma Huateng - China's caller procreation of tech tsars were calved aft the state began its "reform and opening up" signifier nether Deng Xiaoping, erstwhile "class struggle" was abolished and backstage endeavor was encouraged. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Unitree's Wang was calved successful 1990, portion Zhang was calved successful 1983. Liang's commencement twelvemonth was 1985, and DJI's Wang was calved successful 1980. They grew up successful a play remembered arsenic the astir wide and open-minded since the founding of the People's Republic of China, during which accepted societal barriers were dismantled and science, engineering and maths acquisition proliferated crossed the country's nationalist schoolhouse system.

Their upbringing besides mostly coincided with an epoch of accelerated globalisation, successful which Western power near its people connected Chinese society. Before Liang created DeepSeek successful 2023, helium operated the hedge money High-Flyer Quant, which was inspired by the US quant hedge money manager Jim Simons. In 1 of the fewer published articles by Liang, helium wrote a preface for the Chinese translation of The Man Who Solved the Market, the biography of the US investor.

A cardinal origin successful the occurrence of the 4 entrepreneurs is their acquisition successful securing resources and surviving China's highly competitory marketplace. Compared with their Silicon Valley peers, they person been shaped by a section upbringing that fostered competitiveness successful a brutal marketplace environment, which successful crook enabled them to motorboat groundbreaking tech products with planetary impact, according to analysts and concern professors.

Winston Ma, adjunct prof astatine New York University with a absorption connected the planetary AI integer economy, said Chinese founders were bully astatine taking existing technologies - often invented successful the West - and rapidly investigating and scaling them successful the Chinese marketplace with an attraction to item that enhanced the idiosyncratic acquisition and minimised the outgo of delivery.

"If not, you volition go history," Ma said.

Many of them person already go billionaires. ByteDance's Zhang is one of the richest radical successful China. Their wealthiness is acceptable to turn further, arsenic ByteDance, DJI, DeepSeek and Unitree person yet to marque archetypal nationalist offerings. They each built up their businesses successful China's state-led system from humble beginnings and with small authorities support.

DeepSeek, initially a broadside task astatine Liang's quant trading business, sent daze waves crossed Silicon Valley and Wall Street successful precocious January aft its low-cost, high-performance R1 and V3 ample connection models (LLMs) impressed the world.

Wang Tao, laminitis of DJI. Photo: Xinhua alt=Wang Tao, laminitis of DJI. Photo: Xinhua>

DJI, the world's apical drone maker, started retired successful Wang Tao's dorm room, portion Zhang's ByteDance, which owns TikTok, 1 of the astir fashionable apps successful the world, had its beginnings successful a Beijing residential level successful 2012.

Wang Xingxing created Unitree successful 2016, and helium struggled to rise funds successful the aboriginal days. The equity operation of Unitree is precise fragmented, with Wang holding 33 per cent.

Guo Bai, adjunct prof of strategy and entrepreneurship astatine the China Europe International Business School, said the caller procreation of Chinese entrepreneurs represented by the Fantastic Four were capable to win globally due to the fact that of their home focus.

"The Chinese marketplace nowadays is 1 of the astir demanding and competitory successful the world," Guo said, adding that vulnerability to the home marketplace is an vantage erstwhile it comes to the competitiveness of a firm.

Travis Kalanick, laminitis and ex-CEO of Uber Technologies - the ride-hailing steadfast that entered the Chinese marketplace aboriginal on, lone to cede its China operations to Beijing-based Didi Chuxing - said that backmost past Chinese tech companies were "copying" astatine a breakneck speed, and that strategy yet led to innovation and the quality to out-compete immoderate US firms.

Kalanick, speaking connected a podcast successful January, described Chinese ride-hailing contention betwixt 2014 and 2016 arsenic an "all-out war", explaining that arsenic section firms grew sharper and faster astatine replicating, they yet ran retired of things to copy, "and past it flips to creativity and innovation".

Zhang Yiming, laminitis of ByteDance. Photo: Chinatopix via AP alt=Zhang Yiming, laminitis of ByteDance. Photo: Chinatopix via AP>

China's Fantastic Four person demonstrated innovation astatine a clip erstwhile the country's tech companies person met increasing scrutiny from US politicians and adjacent members of the nationalist amid an intensifying rivalry with the US. TikTok has been astatine the oculus of the storm, portion AI is simply a captious country seen by some Beijing and Washington arsenic a mode to physique up tech dominance.

Brock Silvers, main concern serviceman astatine Kaiyuan Capital successful Hong Kong, said that though Chinese tech entrepreneurs were "doing their utmost" to enactment Beijing's planetary ambitions, the country's tech improvement was inactive apt to beryllium importantly impacted by geopolitical factors.

"Self-sufficiency whitethorn beryllium achievable, but planetary adoption and enactment inactive mostly beryllium connected coming developments successful an progressively troubled Sino-US relationship," Silvers said.

The occurrence of the Fantastic Four has thrust the entrepreneurs into the nationalistic spotlight. Liang was hailed arsenic a nationalist leader aft DeepSeek's models showed however Chinese companies could inactive make innovative products contempt US tech restrictions, portion the folk creation performed by Unitree robots during China's wide watched Spring Festival Gala showed 1 cardinal Chinese viewers however the start-up has turned from a follower to a challenger of Elon Musk's Optimus, a general-purpose humanoid robot.

The 4 tech titans person been grouped unneurotic partially due to the fact that nary were educated successful a overseas country. DJI's Wang studied astatine the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, ByteDance's Zhang studied astatine Nankai University successful Tianjin, portion Liang attended Zhejiang University successful Hangzhou.

As for the Unitree founder, the astir wide reported anecdote astir his acquisition was his "poor" English. Despite being a apical subject student, Wang struggled with English, and his debased scores successful the taxable - a request for postgraduate survey - landed him astatine Shanghai University alternatively of a apical school.

However, Unitree's power from extracurricular China is evident. The company's archetypal product, Laikago, was named aft Laika, the archetypal canine to orbit the Earth arsenic portion of the aboriginal Russian abstraction programme. In a 2017 interview, Wang besides said helium was inspired by Boston Dynamics, the US robotics institution founded successful 1992 erstwhile it spun retired of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Wang Xingxing, laminitis of Unitree, poses with 1 of the company's robots successful January 2025. Photo: Handout alt=Wang Xingxing, laminitis of Unitree, poses with 1 of the company's robots successful January 2025. Photo: Handout>

ByteDance's Zhang was inspired by a travel to Silicon Valley successful 2014, wherever helium visited US tech giants specified arsenic Facebook, Google and Airbnb. He besides tried Tesla's latest electrical conveyance astatine the time. After returning to China, Zhang, past 31, wrote successful a blog station that "the aureate epoch of China's exertion companies is arriving".

Unlike Millennial US tech entrepreneurs specified arsenic Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI's Sam Altman, the caller procreation of Chinese entrepreneurs person preferred to support themselves retired of the spotlight and to debar making nationalist comments oregon appearances. ByteDance's Zhang and DJI's Wang person not accepted immoderate interviews oregon shown up to nationalist events for years contempt the increasing power of their concern empires.

DeepSeek's Liang was truthful media-shy that helium has not made immoderate comments astir his firm's concern successful caller weeks, adjacent arsenic its tech grabbed headlines astatine location and abroad. It marked a crisp opposition to his US peers specified arsenic OpenAI laminitis Sam Altman, who has been globe-trotting to conscionable fans and investors.

They are besides reluctant celebrities with nary way grounds of "showing disconnected wealth" - a diagnostic that separates them from Chinese tycoons successful concern and property. Zhang has reportedly focused connected speechmaking AI papers and courting apical manufacture talent, portion Liang has kept himself progressive successful probe successful hunt of caller breakthroughs.

Jeffrey Towson, laminitis of TechMoat Consulting, which advises companies connected integer strategies, said Chinese entrepreneurs could decidedly vie successful planetary markets similar Latin America and Europe if they could past successful hyper-competitive China.

"If US concern is similar soccer, past Chinese concern is rugby," helium said. "They are utilized to playing a rougher sport."

This nonfiction primitively appeared successful the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the astir authoritative dependable reporting connected China and Asia for much than a century. For much SCMP stories, delight research the SCMP app oregon sojourn the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.