科技一定就是硅谷强？这些地方也取得了重大成功

不久以前，我写文章中预测过，无论科技圈以外的世界发生什么，硅谷都将仍然占据全行业的主导地位，即使过程令人不快。

现在我仍然这样认为。称霸业内不代表其他地方不会出现巨大的成功。看看美国北卡罗来纳州的视频游戏公司Epic Games，他们推出了爆款游戏堡垒之夜，其实该公司大热以前已耕耘多年。上周Epic Games披露，获得了KKR、Kleiner Perkins、Lightspeed Partners等投资人的12.5亿美元投资。各家投资方都希望利用堡垒之夜的超高人气，对他们而言，如果这款游戏不是昙花一现就更好。

堡垒之夜实在太成功，仅凭这一款就提升了微软公司整个游戏业务。这也是一个硅谷以外的成功案例。这款游戏也称了中国游戏业巨头腾讯的“辉煌业绩”，多年前腾讯收购了Epic Games 40%的股权。腾讯一直想把“大逃杀”类游戏引进中国。

谈到中国，不妨看看《财富》编辑埃蒙·巴瑞特一篇很有趣的报道，介绍了人工智能强化的面部识别技术在中国应用于监控方面。他写道，对研发面部识别应用的公司来说，“中国政府既是恩人也是受益者。”跟西方截然不同。

事实上，《财富》重返中国举行的《财富》全球科技论坛也将与以往论坛截然不同。该论坛于11月29日到30日在广州珠江三角洲举行。两天期间笔者和同事们将负责主持。论坛主要讨论人工智能和其他科技主题，也包括中美贸易关系紧张造成的影响。部分出席嘉宾有：红杉资本全球执行合伙人、红杉中国创始合伙人沈南鹏、高瓴资本创始人张磊、华为首席战略架构师党文栓、专注中国市场研究的零售业分析师韦葆兰、丰田中国区董事长小林一弘、教育界初创公司VIPKid在线少儿英语的首席执行官米雯娟、携程旅行网首席执行官孙洁、Salesforce首席科学家、AI专家理查德·索切、高盛全球互联网投资银行部主管Kim-Thu Posnett、中国保险业巨头平安集团的首席运营官兼首席信息官陈心颖等。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

I wrote a while ago that no matter what happens elsewhere in the tech world, Silicon Valley will remain dominant—if persistently obnoxious in the process.

I still believe that. Still, dominant doesn’t mean massive successes can’t happen elsewhere. Just look at the North Carolina videogame company Epic Games, maker of super hit Fortnite and also a successful plodder for years before becoming a red-hot sensation. The company revealed last week it has raised $1.25 billion from investors KKR, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Partners and others. They’re all eager to take advantage of the popularity of the addictive Fortnite, which for their sake better not turn out to be a fad.

Fortnite is so successful it singlehandedly is lifting the games business of Microsoft, another non-Silicon Valley success story. The game is also a feather in the cap of Chinese gaming goliath Tencent, which bought a 40% stake in Epic several years ago. Tencent has been hoping to bring the “battle royale” game to China.

Speaking of China, check out Eamon Barrett’s interesting piece about how facial recognition technology, enhanced by artificial intelligence, is being applied for surveillance purposes there. He writes that “the government is both benefactor to and beneficiary of” the companies pursuing facial-recognition applications. It’s a different world.

It’s so different, in fact, that Fortune returns to China next month for the Fortune Global Tech Forum, to be held in the Pearl River Delta megacity of Guangzhou, November 29-30. My colleagues and I will host the two-day event that will focus on A.I. and other tech topics, including the ramifications of trade tensions between China and the U.S. Some of the participants will include Sequoia Capital’s Neil Shen; Hillhouse Capital head Zhang Lei, Dang Wenshuan, the chief technology officer of Huawei; China-focused retail analyst Deborah Weinswig; the chairman of Toyota Motor’s business in China, Kazuhiro Kobayashi; Cindy Mi, CEO of education upstart VIPKid; travel site Ctrip CEO Jane Sun; A.I. expert Richard Socher, chief scientist of Salesforce; Kim-Thu Posnett, global head of Internet investment banking for Goldman Sachs; and insurance giant Ping An’s chief technology officer, Jessica Tan.