The ongoing tiff between the US and China over the security of Chinese telecoms equipment took a new twist last week when Washington largely forbid several government agencies from buying products from industry giants Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063). While Washington’s previous moves in the dispute have been controversial and often contrary to fair trade principles, this latest act looks more reasonable because it is limited to purchasing by a small number of government agencies. Read Full Post…
Companies have been filling the airwaves with 2013 sales and revenue targets these last few weeks as the new year gets underway, with smartphone maker ZTE (HKEx: 763) and top group buying site Meituan becoming the latest to add their forecasts to the list. In ZTE’s case, the company seems to be taking a smart approach to its newer, fast-growing smartphone unit by shifting its focus to improving margins and making the business profitable sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, Meituan’s announcement of extremely aggressive sales targets seem to reflect the company’s confidence that it will emerge stronger than ever from the painful consolidation now gripping China’s group buying sector.
I’m feeling a bit cranky and contrarian today, so I’m going to be somewhat bold and give the following response to yet the latest headlines trumpeting China’s passing the US to become the world’s largest smartphone market: Who cares? I’ll admit that my response to this development is perhaps a bit unfair, since China’s attainment of the world’s smartphone title is certainly an important milestone for a country where even traditional wired telephone service was still rare as recently as 20 years ago.
New US sanctions against a handful of Chinese companies accused of illegally selling goods to Iran, North Korea or Syria are once again casting a spotlight on the risk investors and businesses face when dealing with Chinese companies, especially sellers of high-tech equipment and services. In this particular case most of the sanctioned companies appear to have ties to China’s military and are all privately held. But other high-profile cases in the past year have pointed to similar potentially illegal behavior by telecoms equipment giants Huawei and ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), which are suspected of selling or trying to sell goods to Iran, possibly in violation of US or UN sanctions.
Forget about Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), the US computer giant that overtook China’s Lenovo (HKEx: 992) to retake the spot as the world’s biggest PC maker late last year. In discussing its latest quarterly results released late on Wednesday, Lenovo’s talkative chief executive Yang Yuanqing had scant time to discuss his company’s recent loss of the global PC crown to HP, a previous obsession for him for much of the previous 2 years. (
After a stormy 2012 that saw growing trade friction between China and the US, I’m happy to see that 2013 is getting off to a better start with Washington’s approval of a potentially sensitive sale of a bankruptcy US technology firm to a Chinese buyer. Many readers will know that I’m talking about the case of A123 Systems, a former high-flying US battery maker that fell on hard times as new energy industries worldwide experienced a broader downturn in demand for their products.
I’ve been following the world of technology for more than a decade now, and so many big names have come and gone during that time that nothing really surprises me anymore, especially in the cellphone space where 2 years is the equivalent of an eternity. That seems like an appropriate backdrop for the latest smarphone data, which show that Huawei has come roaring out of nowhere to become the world’s third largest player, according to the latest quarterly figures from data-tracking firm IDC. (
