China was on holiday much of this week for the annual Dragon Boat Festival, but there was no respite for the building trade hostilities between Beijing and the EU that are quickly souring bilateral relations. Last week Beijing launched a probe into unfair state support against EU wines and hinted at another similar probe into luxury cars, targeting 2 product areas where European names have successfully tapped the China market. (previous post) Now this week Europe is firing back with a complaint against punitive steel tariffs launched by Beijing, while Britain is making its own worrisome noises about the safety of telecoms equipment from Huawei Technologies. Read Full Post…
I have to commend Yang Yuanqing, chairman of PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992), for his company’s latest quarterly results that look quite solid, but even more for his ability to stay on message. Just a year ago, Yang took every opportunity to talk about his desire to overtake US rival Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to become the world’s biggest PC brand. That message has clearly become yesterday’s news, replaced by the latest mantra that China’s consumer tech giant is setting its sights on smartphone leaders Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) as its next targets. Read Full Post…
China telecoms watchers are scratching their heads in complete puzzlement today, following the latest media reports that Beijing may require the nation’s 3 big telcos to all build 4G networks based on a homegrown Chinese technology called TD-LTE. This latest signal coming from unnamed sources at China’s telecoms regulator surprised even me, as there was no indication before that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) might make this requirement. But then again, the MIIT has become famous for its mixed signals over the years, in what I suspect are deliberate leaks by the agency designed to get more public feedback on internal policy debates. Read Full Post…
When is a company executive talking about the importance of the New Zealand market major news? The answer is: When the executive is the press-shy Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of China telecoms equipment giant Huawei, having his first ever meeting with reporters. Ren founded Huawei in the 1990s as a telecoms equipment importer, and has gone on to build the company into the world’s second largest networking equipment maker and one of China’s biggest high-tech exporters. Yet despite his 2 decades in the business, Ren had never done a media interview in all that time — a fact that the company confirmed for me when I asked about his media roundtable this week with a group of New Zealand reporters. Read Full Post…
The latest numbers and outlook from telecoms equipment maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) look decidedly ugly, leading me to wonder if the struggling former superstar is destined either for extinction or a radical makeover in the next few years. ZTE’s woes come as crosstown rival Huawei faces similar challenges due to a rapidly slowing global market for networking equipment. Huawei is responding to the challenge by aiming for big new orders in Australia, and is also discussing its succession plans as media-shy founder Ren Zhengfei nears his retirement. Whoever Ren ultimately chooses to replace him will certainly have a difficult job ahead, as Huawei could easily follow the same path as ZTE, which itself appears to be on the edge of a downward spiral like those followed by defunct former giants Motorola and Nortel. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 2. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Websites Closed After Police Crackdown On Pirate Movie Networks (English article)
Huawei’s CEO Says Successor Won’t Be From Family, No Listing Plans (English article)
The UnionPay Travel Prepaid Card Launched by The Bancorp (Nasdaq: TBBK) (Businesswire)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 27-29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) To Buy Online Video Firm For $400 Mln-Paper (English article)
Websites Closed In Crackdown On Pirate Movie Networks (English article)
AgBank (HKEx: 1288) OKs Plan To Issue 90 Bln Yuan In Capital Instruments (HKEx announcement)
China Telecom (HKEx: 728) Sells E-Surfing Media Stake To Parent (HKEx announcement)
The coming months will be a pivotal time for Beijing to show its commitment to free trade, as China’s three telcoms operators get set to award billions of dollars in new contracts to build 4G mobile networks. The building spree will mark the first batch of big new contracts since both the US and Europe took moves last year that could severely limit or ban the import of Chinese networking equipment for reasons of national security and unfair competition. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 19. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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IBM (NYSE: IBM) In Talks To Sell x86 Server Business To Lenovo (HKEx: 992) (English article)
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) China To Halt Email Box Service On August 19 (Chinese article)
China Mobile (HKEx: 941) Ends Agreement With FarEastone (Taipei: 4904) (HKEx announcement)
New signals from embattled telecoms equipment giant Huawei indicate the company may be seeking a new “middle road”, as it tries to ease western concerns that its products could be used for spying by Beijing. This subtle but perhaps significant shift is coming in the form of a press release just issued by Huawei, in which it says Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard encouraged the Chinese company to expand its commercial business in Australia during a trip to China this week. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 23. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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In China, Off-Balance-Sheet Lending Risks Lurk In The Shadows (English article)
Tencent (HKEx: 700) WeChat Cost to Carriers Far Exceeds New Revenue – Wang Jianzhou (Chinese article)
ZTE (HKEx: 763) Strength in Smartphones Delivers Increased Profitability (Businesswire)
Huawei CFO Says Revenue To Grow 10 Pct Annually In Next Few Years (Chinese article)
