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Winston Ma

In the middle of 1990s, the early days of China's tech and Internet boom, I majored in electronic materials and semiconductor physics at Fudan University in Shanghai. Aiming for graduate studies in the United States, I diligently studied English for the TOEFL and GRE exams, and I also took a national exam for a professional certificate that is no longer relevant two decades later—“software programmer”.

Back then, China had so few software programmers that the central government organized national qualification exams to encourage the young generation to study computer science. Sensing the tremendous potential of China's tech revolution, I sat in a one-day exam to solve coding problems in C, Fortune, and Pascal languages before I became a “nationally certified software programmer”. Today, however, those programming languages are “old” for coding, and there is no need for such a national exam because every year hundreds of thousands of Chinese college students graduate from computer science majors—even highly specialized major like artificial intelligence (AI).

No doubt, over the past two decades, China has evolved to be a worldwide tech leader. Thus, in 2016, I shifted my focus to China's digital innovation for my book series on China with China's Mobile Economy: Opportunities in the Largest and Fastest Information Consumption Boom (also with Wiley publishing).

Compared to my previous book, Investing in China: New Opportunities in a Transforming Stock Market, published in 2006, the book on China's internet-based “mobile economy” was a much more challenging project. For one thing, China's economic model was transformed from decades-long double-digit rapid growth into a more sustainable growth model based on innovation and consumption. For another, the explosive growth of smartphone users, e-commerce, and online content consumption and creation led to a digital revolution in almost all industries and business sectors.

What I never expected then was that China's digital transformation would become so dynamic and powerful that I would have to write one book each year to cover its leap forward. After China's Mobile Economy (English, 2016), I published my book serial in different languages—Digital Economy 2.0 (Chinese, 2017), The Digital Silk Road (German, 2018), and China's AI Big Bang (Japanese, 2019)—before I returned to work with Wiley again to publish this book, in English, with the China–US tech war in the background.

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A book on such a complex and fast-moving topic would not have been possible if I had not been blessed to work with and learn from an amazing group of mentors in business, law, and tech investments.

My deepest thanks go to Dr. Rita and Gus Hauser at the New York University (NYU) School of Law, and John Sexton, the legendary Dean of NYU Law School when I was pursuing my LL.M degree in Comparative Law. My PE/VC investing, investment banking, and practicing attorney experiences all started with the generous Hauser scholarship in 1997.

During his decade-long tenure as the President of NYU, John kindly engaged me at his inaugural President's Global Council as he developed the world's first and only GNU (global network university). My NYU experience was the foundation for my future career as a global professional working in the cross-border business world. Great thanks to John Sexton, the legendary Dean of NYU Law School when I was pursuing my LL.M degree in Comparative Law.

My sincere appreciation to both Mr. Lou Jiwei and Dr. Gao Xi-qing, the inaugural Chairman and President of China Investment Corporation (CIC), for recruiting me at its inception. One of the most gratifying aspects of being part of CIC is the opportunity to be exposed to a wide range of global financial markets' new developments. The unique platform has brought me to the movers and shakers everywhere in the world, including Silicon Valley projects that linked global tech innovation with the Chinese market.

The same thanks go to Chairman Ding Xue-dong and President Li Ke-ping, whom I reported to at CIC in recent years. Similarly, thanks to Linda Simpson, senior partner at the New York headquarters of Davis Polk & Wardwell, and Santosh Nabar, Managing Director at the New York headquarters of J. P. Morgan. Those two former bosses on Wall Street gave me a foundation to develop a career in the global capital markets.

Many thanks to Mr. Jing Liqun, President of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and formerly the Supervisory Chairman of CIC, for educating me about Shakespeare's works besides guiding me professionally. The readings on Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear improved my English writing skills, and hopefully, the writing style of the book serial is more interesting and engaging than my previous finance textbook Investing in China.

For such a dynamic book topic, I benefited from the best market intelligence from a distinctive group of institutional investors, tech entrepreneurs, and business leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF), especially my peers at the Young Global Leaders (YGL) community and Council for Digital Economy and Society. Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, has a tremendous vision of a sustainable, shared digital future for the world, which is an important theme of this book.

My gratitude goes to many other outstanding friends, colleagues, practitioners, and academics who provided expert opinions, feedback, insights, and suggestions for improvement. For anecdotes, pointers, and constant reality checks, I turned to them because they were at the front line of industry and business practices. I would particularly like to thank the friends at the West Summit Fund, which I set up at CIC in 2009 for cross-border investments between Silicon Valley and China. Over the last 10 years, we’ve had great fun together.

On its journey from a collection of ideas and themes to a coherent book, the manuscript went through multiple iterations and a meticulous editorial and review process by the John Wiley team, led by the book commissioning editor Gemma Valler. Our long-term collaboration started with my 2016 book, and in 2020, just months before this book, we worked together and released another new work, The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy (October 2020). The managing editor Purvi Patel and copyeditor Barbara Long contributed substantially to the final shape of the book. Special thanks to Gladys Ganaden for her design of the book cover and figures.

And last in the lineup but first in my heart, I thank my wife, Angela Ju-hsin Pan, who gave me love and support. You are a true partner in helping me frame and create this work. Thank you for the patience you had while I wrecked our weekends and evenings working on this book.