In April 2011, I had just turned 63 and was supposed to retire after a 30-year career at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the final decade of which was spent as CEO. Somehow, things turned out a little differently.
Rather than pursue hobbies or get involved with nonprofits, my wife and I moved to China. SVB’s Board had asked me to found a brand-new bank: the Shanghai Pudong Development Silicon Valley Bank (SPD SVB), a joint venture between SVB and the state-owned Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
The board had committed $100 million to establishing SVB’s operations in China, and I was filled with goodwill and optimism about the endeavor.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed my time in China and the many friends I met there, from today’s vantage point, I firmly believe we were (and are still) being played.
Despite SVB’s recent failure, I remain committed to its original vision and take pride in the work the bank did to fund innovation. By taking its unique model to China
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
If you still associate Nvidia with video games, it's time to update your priors. Thanks to its powerful chips and ubiquitous software, the U.S. company has produced a walled garden for artificial intelligence, with nearly every major player residing inside it. But having grown up inside Nvidia’s garden, China’s universities, laboratories and tech firms now find themselves locked out, banned from buying the company's most advanced chips. For China, it couldn't have come at a worse time.
The former secretary of state talks about how the Trump administration changed U.S.-China relations; why he accused Beijing of genocide in Xinjiang; and why U.S. politicians should visit Taiwan.