Chinese companies speed up source diversification in face of US blacklist

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/8/4 19:08:40

Media reports that the U.S. is considering sanctions on Chinese video surveillance companies including Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. May 22, 2019. Photo: VCG



Chinese companies banned from buying US supplies are speeding up self-innovation, and localization of productions at home, and several companies have shown revenue growth unfazed by the increasing US pressure. 

The Chinese manufacturer of video surveillance equipment Hikvision said Tuesday that the company is running normally and has prepared alternatives for all the components it uses in its products, in the face of the US blacklist that bans the company from buying from US companies.

According to a company statement released Tuesday, Hikvision has been increasing the proportion of its Chinese suppliers over the years, and the company has been making contingency plans for a long time, including finding alternative component providers and materials. 

"The supply system in the Chinese market is relatively complete. There are a lot of application technologies in security, and the development threshold is not very high," the company said. 

Hikvision was listed on a blacklist by the US government last year, and it is not the only one that is preparing to diversify its supply and secure more sources under the blacklist. 

Cloudwalk Technology, another Chinese company on the list, said that the company's supply chain reserves can sustain it for the next year or two, and like Hikvision, it has also shifted to cooperation with Chinese companies. 

"Being on the list does affect our development, but the localization process has been speeded up," the company told the Global Times. 

Hikvision is also targeted by another ban from the Trump administration, which prohibits the US government from buying from companies that uses products from the Chinese company. 

Despite the ramped-up pressure from the US, Hikvision generated $3.475 billion of revenue in the first half of 2020, an increase of 1.45 percent year-on-year, and net profits of $6.62 million, up 9.66 percent on a yearly basis.

IFlytek, a Chinese company specializing in voice recognition technology, also reported a 27.3 percent growth in its sales in 2019, reaching 10.079 billion yuan, despite being put on the US blacklist. In a statement released earlier this year, the company said the impact of the US blacklist is manageable and it is in the process of replacing US components with domestic ones. 



Posted in: INDUSTRIES

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