Summary
The China Decode podcast hosted by Alice Han and James King examines two converging AI and technology stories from the same week that illuminate the widening technological rift between the United States and China. The first story: JP Morgan Chase has reportedly cut off employees in Hong Kong from accessing Anthropic’s AI models, citing licensing terms that restrict use in greater China — following a similar move already made by Goldman Sachs. The hosts argue this is evidence that Hong Kong is increasingly being treated as an extension of mainland China, with meaningful consequences for its role as an international financial hub.
The second, and by the hosts’ assessment more significant, story involves U.S. government pressure on Dutch chip equipment maker ASML. Washington’s Department of Commerce escalated confrontation with ASML over allegations that advanced EUV lithography machines — the only technology in the world capable of producing the most advanced semiconductors — may have reached China. ASML has issued a categorical denial, stating it has never shipped an EUV machine or any component specifically designed for one to China. The hosts walk through why this matters: without EUV machines, China cannot manufacture cutting-edge chips, and if the allegation is true, it would represent a fundamental shift in the semiconductor gap between East and West.
The broader framing is a “technological cold war” in which competition over AI models and the hardware to train them are increasingly inseparable policy battlegrounds.
📺 Source: The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway · Published June 23, 2026
🏷️ Format: Podcast
