Tag: Musk, Elon

China Launches Reusable Rocket, Clearing a Key Hurdle in Race With SpaceX

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China’s space program took an important step on Friday toward its elusive goal of competing with Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, in the race to dominate the satellite industry. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, a government entity, launched a Long March 10B rocket and recovered its bottom part, called the first stage, a few minutes later. This essential step toward reusing the rocket’s parts for future missions could signal a long-awaited breakthrough for Chinese satellite companies. SpaceX revolutionized the industry with its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket, whose first…

Why A.I. Distillation Has Become a Hot Topic in the Race with China

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The American companies building artificial intelligence systems are loudly complaining that their Chinese competitors are unfairly copying their technology, and they are pleading with officials to do something about it. On June 10, Anthropic sent a letter to Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, accusing the Chinese tech giant Alibaba of surreptitiously copying its A.I. technologies using a technique called distillation. Like other Chinese companies, Alibaba tapped into Anthropic’s technologies through tens of thousands of unauthorized accounts, according to the letter, which was viewed by The New York Times. Then…

Elon Musk and Other CEOs on Trump’s Trip to China Sought Relief

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The chief executives who accompanied President Trump to a meeting and grand banquet in China last week were seeking to curry favor with both the Trump administration and the Chinese government, keenly aware that the support of either could make or break their businesses. But the delegation — which included executives from Boeing, Apple, Nvidia, Cargill and other firms — arrived in Beijing with a variety of commercial complaints about doing business in China, some of which are public, some of which have not been previously reported. In recent weeks,…

Musk, Rubio, Hegseth: Who is Traveling With Trump to China?

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President Trump’s entourage for his trip to China includes top administration officials, several of the country’s most powerful executives and members of the Trump family. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is traveling with Mr. Trump, despite sanctions China imposed on him in 2020 over his comments about its human rights record. Pete Hegseth will be the first sitting defense secretary to visit China since Jim Mattis made the trip in 2018. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is also in the entourage, after meeting with China’s vice premier, He Lifeng, in…

The Idealism of the Space Program Isn’t Enough

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I am a firm nonbeliever when it comes to the cult of John F. Kennedy, but like an atheist admiring the King James Bible, even I can appreciate some of the Kennedy scriptures. So as our latest lunar mission circles back to Earth, I find myself revisiting the speech at Rice University that launched us moonward. In that address, Kennedy declared that America would be ascending to the moon for the same reason that mountain climbers attempt Everest: because “space is there, and we’re going to climb it.” What’s striking,…

The DOGE Alum Asking if Foreign Aid Is America’s Problem

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We have an entire computer system dedicated to memos at the State Department, right? And if you actually upload anything there, it’s on Reuters within an hour, so you can’t use it. So we’re hand walking around paper like we’re in the ‘40s. Who is actually running the U.S. government under this administration? Did the spirit of DOGE outlast Elon Musk? How are DOGE and America First changing U.S. foreign policy? My guest today is a youthful veteran of the Department of Government Efficiency, and now he’s in charge of…

Why Elon Musk Needs China

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When Elon Musk first set up Tesla’s factory in China, he appeared to have the upper hand. He gained access to top leaders and secured policy changes that benefited Tesla. He also got workers accustomed to long hours and fewer protections, after clashing with U.S. regulators over labor conditions at his California plant. The Shanghai factory helped make Tesla the most valuable car company in the world and Mr. Musk ultrarich. But Tesla is now struggling. Mr. Musk helped create his competition, Chinese E.V. makers that are taking market share…

Tesla’s Pivot to China Saved Musk. It Also Binds Him to Beijing.

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When Elon Musk unveiled the first Chinese-made Teslas in Shanghai in 2020, he went off script and started dancing. Peeling off his jacket, he flung it across the stage in a partial striptease. Mr. Musk had reason to celebrate. A few years earlier, with Tesla on the brink of failure, he had bet on China, which offered cheap parts and capable workers — and which needed Tesla as an anchor to jump-start its fledgling electric vehicle industry. For Chinese leaders, the prize was a Tesla factory on domestic soil. Mr.…

Tesla’s Troubles Raise Questions About Its Invincibility

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Elon Musk appeared to be in a defiant mood Wednesday when he stood before employees at Tesla’s factory near Berlin a week after an arsonist set fire to a high-voltage power pylon and brought production to a standstill. “They can’t stop us,” Mr. Musk, the company’s chief executive, told workers in a giant tent beside the plant. But there are proliferating signs that Tesla may not be as unstoppable as it once seemed. The company’s car sales are no longer growing at a torrid pace. Chinese automakers and established brands…

Taiwan Is Building a Satellite Network Without Elon Musk

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In Taiwan, the government is racing to do what no country or even company has been able to: build an alternative to Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Starlink has allowed militaries, power plants and medical workers to maintain crucial online connections when primary infrastructure has failed in emergencies, such as an earthquake in Tonga and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Officials in Taiwan face constant reminders that its communication infrastructure must be able to withstand a crisis. The island democracy sits 80 miles from…