“We need this AI bubble,” argues TMTPost columnist

Bubble as engine, not flaw

In an opinion piece for TMTPost, writer 南七道 argues that the current AI frenzy — from daily new models and startups to the frenzy around names like OpenClaw (龙虾) — is precisely the medicine China needs to reawaken a generation of entrepreneurs and experiments. He points to the frenetic years of 2013–2016, when China’s “mass entrepreneurship, crowd innovation” era produced a cascade of startups, bold experiments and eventual winners. It has been reported that OpenAI raised as much as $110 billion in that wave of global attention, a sign of how capital can pile onto a promising new technology even as many projects remain unproven.

A familiar, messy birth of industries

南七道 revisits the statistics to make his point. According to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, daily new company registrations jumped from around 6,900 in 2013 to roughly 12,000 by 2015, and more than 5.5 million new firms were registered in 2016. Venture funding exploded as well: KPMG and CB Insights show China’s VC market grew from about $12 billion in 2013 to roughly $77 billion by 2016. Out of that chaos came companies that reshaped daily life — Xiaomi (小米), Didi (滴滴), Meituan (美团), ByteDance (字节跳动) and Pinduoduo (拼多多) — and a culture that encouraged risk-taking over risk-aversion.

Why the messy phase matters now — and what to watch

Is the hype dangerous? Yes, sometimes. There were scammers and bad bets then, and there are today. But the columnist’s core claim: without a noisy, capital-heavy period that tolerates failure, truly transformational products rarely emerge. This surge also plays out against geopolitical headwinds — U.S.-China tech tensions, export controls on advanced semiconductors and sanctions that push Beijing to prioritize domestic AI capabilities — making the stakes higher and the appetite for rapid experimentation more understandable. Reportedly, many projects are still fishing for viable business models; the important thing, the piece argues, is that people are again asking how AI will change industries and their own work.

A reminder with caveats

The prescription is not a blank cheque. South China’s earlier entrepreneurial boom matured into more disciplined markets; the columnist urges similar evolution: let the bubble finance trial-and-error, but expect consolidation, regulation and better due diligence to follow. If the past is any guide, the noise will taper and the durable winners will emerge — but not without some collateral damage along the way.