China Decode: Why China Got Locked Out of SpaceX and America’s Biggest IPOs (ft. Ed Elson)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:33)
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Support for this show comes from Odoo.
Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo, it's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier.
CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's odoo.com.

**Ed Elson** (1:54)
China has demonstrated a willingness to forgo money in the name of the common good, in the name of protecting workers and protecting labor. And so even if China is more structurally exposed to AI, even if that is the case, my assumption is that the Chinese government will bend the economy to its will in order to protect Chinese workers. What I know about America is that the total opposite is true.

**Alice Han** (2:30)
Welcome to China Decode. I'm Alice Han. James is off today on a holiday, but we have the amazing Ed Elson from Prof G Markets. Ed, it is so good to have you here.

**Ed Elson** (2:39)
Great to be here. Thank you so much for having me standing in for the other Brit, although I have a lot less knowledge than him, but that's okay because I'll be prompting you as well. So thank you for having me.

**Alice Han** (2:50)
And today's episode of China Decode, discussing how Chinese companies and investors are getting shut out of American markets where the first trillionaire from China could come from, and the growing push for workers' rights in an age of AI.
That's all coming up, but first, let's do a quick check-in with how the Chinese markets are starting the week. On Monday, markets closed up on the news of a deal being reached between the US and Iran to potentially reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The CSI 300 Index closed up 2.4% while the Shenzhen Composite was up 3.4%.
The Shanghai Composite itself was up 1.6%.
All right, let's get right into it. In addition to the US-Iran deal, some of the biggest global economic news in the last few days came in the form of the SpaceX's mega IPO. And it was an IPO that investors from China and Hong Kong were shut out of over apparent concerns around US restrictions on exports of critical technology. At the same time, the Pentagon has designated a broad range of Chinese firms as Chinese military companies, which means they will be subject to restrictions. The list includes corporate giants from China, including Alibaba, BYD, and Baidu. So Ed, it feels like a very historic week. The Knicks won against the Spurs the first time since the 70s. I don't know if you were cheering on. I was. The New York team, we had the biggest IPO in history. Elon Musk is the first trillionaire in history. It feels just like a very historic week. So break it down for us. What is the big takeaway from this huge IPO? And what do you think that that means for the season of IPOs to come? Because obviously we've got anthropic open AI coming down the pipeline.

**Ed Elson** (4:40)
Yeah. Huge week for markets. One thing you missed out there is that the World Cup began. That's the other thing that everyone is talking about. But I noticed China isn't in this year's World Cup. And I was kind of wondering what's going to happen with the Chinese football team? Surely that needs to show up and become a real player because they're so successful in the Olympics, but then they just I guess they haven't gotten their act together on football. So that's maybe another conversation for another time. SpaceX IPO. Yeah, I think you said it right. This is the most important week for markets in an extremely long time. This is the largest IPO in history. They ended up raising about $86 billion. They were going to raise $75, but then there was so much demand for this thing and they ended up pushing it to $86 billion. So this is the largest IPO by far.