⚡ China's nuclear build gives it a cheap-electricity manufacturing edge

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E112 (2023-01-20) · explicit_prediction · strength 3 ▶ 44:24 SUPPORT · horizon 24mo

“My point was that in China, and I've made this point many times, but I just think it's a really important one that will play out over the next couple of years. They're building 450 nuclear power plants, they're going to get the cost of industrial power below five cents or four cents a kilowatt hour, and they're electrifying all their factories.”

Chamath energy w=0.55 · n=22 · E112 (2023-01-20) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 46:09 OPPOSE

“Even if energy is zero in China, you have to think about inputs, meaning factories make things with inputs. And if you look, for example, in natural resources, the inputs, by and large, don't exist in China.”

Jason energy w=1.00 · n=17 · E144 (2023-09-01) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 51:54 SUPPORT

“if you look at nuclear, we just had a bunch of, I think it was senators signing a bill. I think you might have tweeted it, Chamath, of support of nuclear, 21 nuclear power plants are being directed at this moment in China, eight in India. The United States only has one, which is kind of an extension.”

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E148 (2023-10-07) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 55:52 SUPPORT

“the number of people that could have been pulled out of poverty if we made cheap, abundant energy available at an accelerated pace rather than at a decelerated pace, it could have had a much more significant effect. ... Meanwhile, you see China building 450 nuclear fission stations and the US building none. And I think that that's part of the story of where the US is today.”

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E174 (2024-04-12) · explicit_prediction · strength 2 ▶ 1:16:53 SUPPORT

“Today, 79% of lithium ion battery production comes out of China. The US is only 6.2% of global lithium ion battery production... that China has a huge leg up and is going to become a critical point of dependency for the United States to develop an arsenal necessary to be competitive in this kind of next evolution of warfare”

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E184 (2024-06-20) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 18:52 SUPPORT

“China's building 150 nuclear reactors and they're only spending about $2,500 a kilowatt.”

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E189 (2024-07-26) · explicit_prediction · strength 3 ▶ 1:27:18 SUPPORT

“China has more electricity production. It's cheaper to make electricity and it's cheaper to build new capacity and they're building at an accelerated rate.”

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E200 (2024-10-18) · explicit_prediction · strength 3 ▶ 1:03:00 SUPPORT

“If China races towards five cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, and we're sitting here at 20 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity, what's that going to do to our economic competitiveness?”

Chamath energy w=0.55 · n=22 · E200 (2024-10-18) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 1:03:37 OPPOSE

“We can fix that tomorrow. We already rely on a nuclear reactor that works, and to Sacks' point, it just happens to be millions of miles away.”

Jason energy w=1.00 · n=17 · E200 (2024-10-18) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 1:04:06 SUPPORT

“But if China runs away with this and they have so many of these running, and then they're able to power AI and solve problems were not, we're going to have to get our act together and start standing these up.”

Sacks energy w=0.94 · n=16 · E200 (2024-10-18) · sentiment · strength 1 ▶ 1:03:57 OPPOSE

“Maybe it's not such a bad thing that other countries are taking the early adopter risk of this technology.”

Friedberg energy w=0.78 · n=18 · E206 (2024-12-07) · explicit_prediction · strength 3 ▶ 11:03 SUPPORT

“which is the increment in electricity production capacity in China compared to the United States. And so we are going from one terawatt to two terawatts. They're going from, I think, two to eight over the same time period, and they're doing it at a price”

Joe Lonsdale (regular guest ×1.0) energy: 1 resolved, unproven · E206 (2024-12-07) · sentiment · strength 2 ▶ 15:39 SUPPORT

“This is a key national security thing, too, because we need manufacturing here to be affordable and competitive in order for national security”