US chip giant Qualcomm: more and more inseparable from the Chinese market
2017-08-08
According to foreign media reports, in China, when developing unmanned aerial vehicles, the US chip giant Qualcomm actively help. Qualcomm is also actively involved in the development of artificial intelligence, mobile technology and supercomputers in China. Qualcomm also helped some Chinese companies, such as Huawei, to open up overseas markets to help China achieve the "globalization" strategy, cultivate large multinational brands.
Early access to the Chinese market
China is not satisfied with the purchase of mobile phones, computers and cars in the chip, it wants to design and develop their own drive the digital world chip.
Qualcomm and the Chinese government set up a joint China Semiconductor Semiconductor Corporation. The Chinese government provides land and funds, Qualcomm provides technology and initial capital of approximately $ 140 million.
"Most of the world's PC and smartphones are produced in China, so Qualcomm's active cooperation with the government is also good for their own development," says Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School.
In fact, Qualcomm has long been in the Chinese market.
In the early 1990s, China's economy began to develop rapidly. When US President Bill Clinton sent his own team members to China to discuss cooperation with the Chinese government.
At that time in the world, the phone has just risen. However, the main mobile phone is the European wireless standard G.S.M .. Qualcomm has a comparable US wireless standard C.D.M.A.
Qualcomm founder Irwin M. Jacobs is actively lobbying the US and Chinese governments to talk about the potential of this standard to change the wireless communications market.
"We know that China is a very important market, but they do not have their own mobile phone," said Perry LaForge, a senior executive at Qualcomm. "We told them that the system will give them the opportunity to produce their own Mobile phones, not just on the purchase of phones from other countries. "
In the late 1990s, Qualcomm entered the Chinese market for the first time. But it did not start to attract attention. The company is looking for Chinese partners to produce mobile phones that use its mobile standards. At that time, China also tried to develop its own wireless standards.
However, Qualcomm eventually persuaded the Chinese government to help determine the 3G and 4G mobile technology standards. And the European telecommunications company to provide the standard quickly out of the stage. China's own development of mobile technology did not flourish.
Monopoly caused by multiple complaints
By 2013, almost every wireless device around the world relies on Qualcomm's chips or patents. With the consolidation of Qualcomm's monopoly status, global brands such as Apple and Samsung began to complain to the regulatory authorities, claiming that Qualcomm's "discriminatory" pricing strategy and charging high licensing fees. In China, some mainstream mobile phone manufacturers also complain that Qualcomm levy a "too high license fee."
"A smartphone involves about 250,000 patents, and mobile phone manufacturers have to be licensed by a patent holding company such as Qualcomm," said Dieter Ernst, a senior researcher at the East-West Research Center, Say.
In the end, Qualcomm was fined $ 975 million in China for alleged monopoly markets - about 8% of the company's revenue in China each year. In fact, Qualcomm in the EU and South Korea have also been an antitrust investigation. Even in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also investigated it.
Qualcomm fully cooperate with the Chinese government's investigation, agreed to pay a fine, and reduced the price of chips sold in China. "We are pleased that this verdict has eliminated the uncertainties we have developed in China, and now we can focus our attention and resources on our customers and partners in China." The company's CEO Steve Mo "Said Steve Mollenkopf.
Began to cooperate in depth
Next, Qualcomm and the Chinese government began in-depth cooperation.
It has set up a $ 100 million investment fund to help Chinese start-up companies. It has established a new R & D and design center with Chinese companies such as Huawei. It also cooperates with Beijing Zhongke Chuanda to develop UAVs, virtual reality glasses and networking equipment.
Qualcomm also helped the Chinese government develop supercomputers. In May this year, Qualcomm agreed to set up a joint venture with Chinese state-owned enterprises to design and sell smartphone chips. Qualcomm is also committed to more high-end production business from South Korea to China.
"China is a huge market where any CEO is reluctant to leave," said Robert D. Atkinson, president of Information Technology and Innovation Fund.
Qualcomm recently in China's largest investment is in Guizhou Province. China has planned a large area of land in Guizhou Province for the establishment of new industrial parks dedicated to the development of supercomputers, data centers and cloud computing services. China's state-owned telecom operators and Internet giants such as Alibaba also began to set up their own large-scale server farms. The area is very rich in water resources.
A year ago, Qualcomm also worked with the Guizhou provincial government to set up a joint venture - China Semiconductor Semiconductor Corporation, and committed to invest about 140 million US dollars to hold a small stake. The joint venture is located in a development zone, the development zone also attracted Microsoft and Dell.
China core in 2016 to build, and now has begun operations. For the Chinese government and Qualcomm, China's core development of the first server chip will be of great significance.
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