Top Silicon Valley VCs Intensify China Visits as Outbound Investment Collapses

Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures have sent partners to China in recent months to study AI, robotics, and manufacturing companies, underscoring the strategic importance of monitoring Chinese tech advances even as U.S. venture investment in the country has fallen to a decade-low. Founders Fund partners Sean Liu, John Luttig, and Joey Krug visited Shanghai's MiniMax and Shenzhen's UBTech Robotics last month, focusing on supply-chain risk, competitor benchmarks, and advances in self-driving, humanoid robotics, energy systems, and AI. Khosla Ventures has made similar trips two years running, visiting Xiaomi this year and Unitree Robotics in Hangzhou the year prior. Other top-tier firms including Thrive Capital, Capital Group, Dimension Capital, and Costanoa Ventures have also undertaken extended China diligence missions, according to deal research.