Most of China’s high-tech attention was focused on the scenic canal city of Wuzhen near Shanghai this past week, as a who’s-who of top Internet executives gathered for a conference that billed itself as a global gathering. Most of China’s top names were reportedly at the event, including Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) Robin Li, Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Jack Ma and NetEase’s (Nasdaq: NTES) Ding Lei. But the guest list was notably lacking in major global names, and at least one executive commented on the sensitive subject of the exclusion of global leaders like Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) from the Chinese Internet.
Meantime, the marketing savvy Lei Jun, who is also CEO and hypemaster supreme for smartphone sensation Xiaomi, also managed to make his own mini splash in the microblogging realm by declaring his own ambition to overtake Samsung (Seoul: 005930) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to become the world’s biggest smartphone brand. Such hype from Lei isn’t all that unusual, though I was somewhat surprised to see several executives from other firms chime in with support for this upwardly mobile company. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: After a slow start, China’s VNO program is picking up momentum, with new operators poised to sign up a collective 50 million in total subscribers as soon as the middle of next year.
VNOs gain momentum
After a decidedly slow start in their first half year of life, China’s young crop of virtual network operators (VNOs) are starting to show some new signs of momentum, including a boost with the new awards of licenses to leading online video site Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) and fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi. The VNO program is part of Beijing’s efforts to breathe new life into the telecoms services sector by opening it up to new private operators that can compete with the big 3 state-run telcos. But the program has been plagued with glitches since the first new services launched in the spring, with the result that progress has been slower than expected. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Sputtering progress for China’s solar power build-up could erode domestic panel makers’ performance, prompting some to buy more overseas assets to avoid punitive trade barriers in the west.
ChemChina unit buys REC Solar
The latest trouble signs in China’s ambitious solar power build-up are coming in newly released quarterly results from Trina (NYSE: TSL), which has reduced its annual sales targets after scrapping one of its planned new projects in the country. At the same time, China’s industry continues to look for ways to circumvent anti-dumping tariffs in the west by setting up off-shore production and purchasing foreign assets to avoid such penalties. In the latest move on that front, a unit of China National Chemical Corp, also known as ChemChina, has just announced its purchase of a major panel producer in Norway for about $640 million. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China should completely up its film market to foreign participation, following recent liberalizing steps that have resulted in a boom in cross-border tie-ups.
Hollywood falls in love with China
The mayor of Los Angeles called on Chinese leaders to ease their restrictions on imported movies during a visit to Beijing last week, seeking better access for a product that is one of the most lucrative US exports to China.
The fact is that China has already taken big steps over the last 2 years to open its movie theaters to overseas products, as both foreign and domestic producers chase a fast-growing market that is now the world’s second largest behind only the United States. At the same time, a growing number of foreign filmmakers are getting improved access to the market through co-investments with Chinese partners, including joint ventures and joint production agreements. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China is likely to fall well short of its plan for 35 gigawatts of solar power capacity by the end of next year due to profit-seeking speculation and lack of experience among plant builders and operators.
China struggles to meet solar power targets
I’ve been quite skeptical for a while about China’s ambitious plans to rapidly build up its solar power capacity, arguing that many of the plants being built are more designed to please central planners in Beijing than of real practical use. Now it seems at least one researcher at a major government institute agrees with that view, prompting him to slash his forecasts for new construction this year. That certainly doesn’t look good for big domestic names like Yingli (NYSE: YGE) and Trina (NYSE: TSL), which are hoping to keep their recent positive momentum going with big new demand from plant developers in their home market. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The record-breaking purchase of an Australian trophy hotel by a China buyer is part of a growing Chinese foreign real estate buying binge, which could ultimately produce a global bubble.
Chinese insurer buys Sydney Sheraton
China’s nascent but rapidly growing appetite for foreign hotels continues to grow, with word that another previously unknown Chinese insurer has snapped up a trophy property in Australia for a record price. In this case it’s China’s Sunshine Insurance Group that’s buying a major Sheraton property in Sydney from global giant Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) for an inflated price of A$463 million, or about $400 million. This sale is the third of a major western hotel asset to a Chinese buyer in just the last 2 months, and looks a lot like similar waves from the past 30 years that saw Asian buyers purchase trophy western real estate at inflated prices. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Strong demand for Alibaba’s newly issued bonds testifies to its popularity among investors, especially short-term traders, and the debt is likely to see high trading volumes before activity settles down next year.
Investors clamor for Alibaba bonds
It seems that anything with the Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) name is in huge demand these days, with word that a massive $8 billion bond offering by China’s leading e-commerce company was massively oversubscribed. To put things in perspective, the previous largest bond program by a Chinese Internet firm came earlier this year from social networking leader Tencent (HKEx: 700), which announced plans to raise up to $5 billion. But unlike Tencent, which had to sell the bonds in several offerings over a few months due to the big amount, Alibaba has been able to easily sell its entire $8 billion offering in a single shot. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: China is likely to wrap up its probe of Qualcomm by year end with a record fine of more than $1 billion and Qualcomm’s agreement to significantly change its licensing practices.
End draws near in Qualcomm probe
After filling the headlines for much of the summer, news on the flood of anti-trust investigations against major foreign firms suddenly came to a halt in the fall, giving the movement an almost seasonal feel. But the story looks set to pop back into the headlines soon, with signs that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is getting ready to levy a record fine for anti-competitive behavior against leading global cellphone chip maker Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM). The signals are coming in new comments this week from Qualcomm’s top 2 executives, as well as from China’s Premier Li Keqiang. Read Full Post…
It seems that old habits die hard when you’re among the thousands of sweepers clad in signature blue smocks who work tirelessly to keep Shanghai clean. That’s the lesson I learned when I took to our city’s streets this week to check out an innovative program to enhance the autumn atmosphere in the former French Concession area.
The new program was simple and quite creative, attempting to create a feeling of fall by allowing fallen leaves to accumulate throughout the day on several tree-lined streets. Such leaves are typically cleared away by sweepers within minutes of touching the ground, keeping our streets spotless but also deprived of much local color. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Google is likely to get Beijing’s permission to open a China version of its app store that could launch next year, paving the way for the roll-out of its smartphones in the market.
Google eyes China app store
A flurry of new reports are saying that global Internet giant Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is planning to re-enter China by opening an app store there, in what would be a major strategic turnaround for the company. The real story of Google in China is quite complex, and to say it withdrew from the market in 2010 after a high profile spat with Beijing over censorship is quite an oversimplification. The more accurate story is one that’s seen Google diversify from its core desktop-based Internet services to an increasingly mobile portfolio that also includes a growing hardware component. That hardware element of its diversification could well be the focal point for a new China foray if the latest reports about Google’s plan to open a China app store are true. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: The post-November 11 sell-off for Chinese e-commerce shares will persist for the next few months until most trade at or slightly below their IPO levels, and then shares will trade mostly sideways next year.
E-commerce shares under presssure
Black Friday may only be a week away in the United States, but the landscape for China’s high-flying e-commerce companies was notably red with blood in the latest Wall Street trading session after a number of players issued new financial results. The numbers weren’t all that bad for the red-hot Vipshop (NYSE: VIPS), though people were probably expecting more from this company whose shares have exploded 40-fold since their IPO 2 and a half years ago. The picture was far more mixed for second-tier e-commerce players Jumei (NYSE: JMEI) and LightInTheBox (NYSE: LTIB), which also isn’t surprising due to the stiff competition in the market. Read Full Post…
