China Makes Western Clean Tech Uninvestable

After touring Chinese factories, eight Western venture capitalists say key clean‑tech sectors like batteries are so dominated by China that backing Western rivals no longer makes sense. They report the cost and scale gap is wider than expected, raising doubts that European and North American startups can survive in these hardware categories. The result could be capital fleeing domestic clean‑hardware toward services or China‑tied supply chains. — If investors abandon Western clean‑hardware, governments face stark choices on tariffs, subsidies, and standards to keep strategic industries alive.