How Chinese Companies Are Taking Over The U.S.

CNBC Marathon covers the changing U.S. business landscape as Chinese firms continue to influence food and drink, entertainment and artificial intelligence.

Luckin Coffee, the chain that quickly overtook Starbucks in China, has opened its first U.S. locations in New York City. While the company, founded in 2017, is expected to expand rapidly, it has already lived through a major fraud scandal and bankruptcy in its home market. So now the question is: can it pose a real risk to major domestic coffeehouse chains like Starbucks? Watch the video to learn about how Luckin Coffee is taking on the U.S.

Duanju, the Chinese term for micro dramas known for wild plots and vertical, bite-sized videos, made headlines in China in 2024 as the industry surpassed the country's box-office revenue for the first time. The short-format videos, which typically consist of episodes ranging from 90 seconds to two minutes long, initially gained popularity in China after capitalizing on the short-form video trend from other short-video apps in the country. And it now has its sights set on the U.S. entertainment industry.

Silicon Valley is now reckoning with a technique in AI development that could upend the leaderboard. Distillation is the idea that a small team with virtually no resources can make an advanced AI model by extracting knowledge from a larger one. While the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek didn’t invent the method, its use of the technique roiled the stock market and woke the AI world up to its disruptive potential. Distillation is now enabling less-capitalized startups and research labs to compete at the cutting edge faster than ever before. DeepSeek’s breakthroughs also ushered in the rise of a new open-source order, based on a belief that transparency and accessibility drive innovation faster than closed-door research. That combination -- distillation’s newfound traction and open-source’s rise in popularity -- is deadly for the competitive edges that the biggest AI players had. This video also includes Bosa’s full interview with Glean CEO Arvind Jain.

From coffee to AI to bite-sized dramas, Chinese companies are making bold moves in U.S. markets. This CNBC marathon digs into how Luckin Coffee is challenging Starbucks, micro dramas aim to captivate American viewers, AI startup DeepSeek uses “distillation” to disrupt Silicon Valley’s biggest players and where their respective industries go from here.

Chapters:
00:00 — Cold Open
01:08 — How Chinese Luckin Is Taking On Starbucks In the U.S. (Published September 2025)
11:47 — Why China’s 2-Minute Micro Dramas Are Poised To Take Over The U.S. (Published July 2025)
21:17 — What Is AI Distillation — And How DeepSeek Used It To Blindside OpenAI (Published February 2025)

Produced by: Ryan Baker, Jeff Huang, Jasmine Wu, Drew Troast, Laura Batchelor
Anchor: Deirdre Bosa
Edited by: Andrea Miller, Lisa Setyon
Animation: Mallory Brangan, Emily Park, Jason Reginato, Christina Locopo
Managing Producer: Anuz Thapa
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Senior Director of Video: Lindsey Jacobson, Jeniece Pettitt
Editorial Support: Erin Black
Additional Footage: Getty Images, ReelShort, Quibi

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How Chinese Companies Are Taking Over The U.S.

Post from CNBC on November 28, 2025

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