This year's global economy has been struggling, and the post-pandemic world economy seems to lack momentum.
The pace of recovery has not accelerated but has been continuously impacted by factors such as geopolitical conflicts, shrinking trade, and low consumer spending.
Due to the recent economic indicators in the United States exceeding expectations, the Federal Reserve has indicated that it may continue to raise interest rates, which means that the strong dollar's position will not end in the short term, and other currencies may continue to depreciate, although the extent may vary.
After the United States revised the latest GDP data for the quarter, the latest GDP figures for each state have also been released.
According to the official data released by the United States, California's GDP reached $938.8 billion in the first quarter, almost breaking through the $1 trillion mark for a single quarter, and it is likely to exceed the $4 trillion mark for the whole year.
Advertisement
Looking at the global GDP rankings in 2022, the United States and China are far ahead, Japan is in third place, and Germany ranks fourth.
California's GDP has already surpassed that of the United Kingdom and France, and if taken separately, it could rank as the world's fifth-largest economy.
However, the situation is constantly changing.
Some media reports suggest that California may surpass Germany to become the world's fourth-largest economy.
According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, California's GDP reached $3.7 trillion last year, an increase of $350 billion compared to 2021, while Germany's GDP was $4.07 trillion during the same period, with the gap narrowing.
In the first half of 2023, the size of the U.S. economy continued to increase, as inflation in the first half of the year has not yet dropped to the level where the Federal Reserve believes that interest rate hikes can stop.
As the largest state in the United States, California's GDP will also continue to increase.
Even if it maintains the same growth rate as last year, California's GDP is very likely to break through the $4 trillion mark this year.
However, Germany, the "engine" of the European economy, is now showing signs of stalling.
Germany's GDP in the first quarter of this year was $1.07 trillion, with only a difference of more than $100 billion from California.
Moreover, Germany's economy has been in negative growth for two consecutive quarters, and the IMF predicts that Germany's GDP will decrease by 0.1% this year.
Therefore, with the German economy heading downward and California's GDP continuing to grow, California's GDP is expected to surpass Germany this year and become the world's fourth-largest economy.
California is truly deserving of the title "the world's first economic powerhouse."
If it successfully breaks through the $4 trillion mark this year, then its per capita GDP will also break through the $100,000 mark for the first time, truly becoming a wealthy state that can rival a nation.
California, with a population of 40 million people, has created such a huge amount of wealth.
In fact, the prosperity of California's economy is primarily due to its highly developed high-tech industry.
After all, technology is the primary productive force, and high-tech can create more high-profit industries, attract more outstanding global talents, improve the overall income level, and continuously promote the level of technological innovation, moving towards a truly virtuous cycle of "industry-university-research."
It is important to note that the globally renowned "Silicon Valley" is located in California, USA.
Silicon Valley is home to many global tech giants such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Intel, and Nvidia.
Recently, Apple's market value has broken through the $3 trillion mark, and Apple's net profit alone in one year is as high as 700 billion yuan.
High profits can attract more excellent and top-notch talents, and excellent talents can continue to drive technological innovation.
Moreover, California also has world-class universities like Stanford, and Silicon Valley also has a large number of research institutions.
Why can the United States be at the forefront in many fields of technology?
Perhaps the reason lies here.
If you understand Silicon Valley and understand California, you will understand the United States.
As the first economic powerhouse of our country, Guangdong Province should benchmark itself against the first state of the United States - California.
Guangdong Province's GDP last year reached $1.92 trillion, and this year it will break through the $2 trillion mark, which can be ranked among the top ten economies in the world.
However, there is still a significant gap compared to California, and the gap in per capita GDP is even greater.
However, Guangdong's development speed is faster, and it has greatly narrowed the gap with California in recent years.
Guangdong is also cultivating more tech giants, and excellent companies such as Huawei, Tencent, DJI, and BYD have emerged.
Huawei is a leader in global 5G communication, DJI is the dominant player in the global drone field, and BYD's new energy vehicle sales rank first in the world... Guangdong has achieved a lot, which is commendable, but it still needs to work hard because we are benchmarking against the most developed countries in the world and the most developed high-tech industries.
Looking at the future development trend, Guangdong's growth space is huge, and it will continue to narrow this gap and even catch up with California.