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In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · 2 min · Sep 30, 2026
China's supplier network speeds up automotive innovation
Kai Yu says Chinese companies can match new ideas with suppliers and partners quickly. He credits the dense network and fast coordination with creating a strong environment for innovation.
Kai Yu is founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics.
Nicolai Tangen, Host · CEO, Norges Bank Investment Management
About this segment
Kai Yu says Chinese companies can match new ideas with suppliers and partners quickly. He credits the dense network and fast coordination with creating a strong environment for innovation.
From “Horizon Robotics CEO: Car Chips, Mind-Off Driving and China's Speed | Podcast | In Good Company”, Sep 30, 2026. Watch the full episode
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“the speed is incredible, right? So I think that's to give China an overall very fantastic environment to innovate.”
Takeaways
- Companies can find local partners for new ideas.
- Beijing and Shenzhen are a three-hour flight apart.
- Yu says the speed of supplier coordination is a major advantage.
In this episode
Full episode- 14:16Kai Yu’s roadmap to hands-off and mind-off driving4:58
- 11:47Long automotive cycles create a high barrier to entry2:43
- 31:21Car suppliers may have an edge in the robotics race4:52
- 7:13Horizon chose to enable carmakers instead of building cars2:17
- 9:15China launched more than 580 car models in six months2:48
24:41China's supplier network speeds up automotive innovation2:10
- 26:35Horizon can partner with European chipmakers in complementary niches2:51Up next
- 37:18Autonomous cars could make commutes and city layouts less restrictive4:17
Transcript
Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.
- 24:51
to work with What advantage do you think it is for Chinese auto manufacturers now to have that breadth and depth of supply chain, which we don't have in Europe? Well, yeah, you know, I work very closely with like many global automotive companies like Bosch, Denzel, you know, Volkswagen. I talked to them about that. It turned out actually over the last maybe two decades or so, China become a country where the supply chain of components and technologies is so rich.
- 25:32
this is exactly one of my friends who is a German he told me he thinks China nowadays is like a wonderland for supply chain because no matter how kind of new ideas then you can always find partners and suppliers in China either supply the technology component to you or work with you to actually fulfill your requirement and the speed is incredible, right? So I think that's to give China an overall very fantastic environment to innovate.
- 26:10
Yeah, so the kind of overall ecosystem is there, right? You don't need to, you know, write an email to somewhere else. Yeah, you just make a phone call or send a WeChat message or just, you know, take a flight from Beijing to Shenzhen, just three hours. And essentially, nowadays, including myself and also all of my friends, we travel so frequently within China. We take entire China as one village.