Electro State

Discussion

China as the First Electrostate

Chor Pharn:

"An electrostate is a country whose power rests on surplus electrons and compute. Instead of living off scarcity rents — coal seams, oil wells, or gas pipelines — it manufactures abundance: solar, wind, nuclear, batteries, and FLOPs. It exports that abundance as electricity, synthetic fuels, and digital infrastructure.

China is the world’s first electrostate.

In 2023 it added more solar capacity than the U.S. has built in its entire history.

It now controls over 70% of global battery production.

It is building nuclear capacity faster than any other country.

Ultra-high-voltage transmission lines criss-cross the continent, carrying electricity thousands of kilometres.

Its AI labs and data centres are sited where renewable baseload is abundant.

This surplus gives China gravity.

In Southeast Asia, Huawei builds most of the 5G networks, State Grid wires HVDC lines across Laos and Thailand, Chinese firms finance solar parks. Even when governments hedge politically, their infrastructure defaults to Chinese kit.

In Central Asia, Belt and Road projects link Kazakh and Uzbek renewables into western China, with Chinese EPCs and financing.

In Japan, political distance persists, but batteries, solar panels, and rare earths still tie Japanese industries to Chinese supply chains.

India resists, but remains reliant on imported oil and coal. Its digital services and UPI system make it visible, but not sovereign in electrons or compute."

(https://thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/electro-vs-petro-two-dangerous-decades)