IBM chalks new strategy to woo China

[cirr]

A win-win for Chinese technology companies and those foreign entities that have got some real stuff to offer。

IBM chalks new strategy to woo China

Reuters | Mar 23, 2015, 06.27 PM IST


BEIJING: IBM will share technology with Chinese firms and will actively help build China's industry, CEO Virginia Rometty said in Beijing as she set out a strategy for one of the foreign firms hardest hit by China's shifting technology policies.

IBM must help China build its IT industry rather than viewing the country solely as a sales destination or manufacturing base, Rometty said at the China Development Forum, an annual Chinese government-sponsored conference bringing together business executives and China's ruling elite.

"If you're a country, as China is, of 1.3 billion people you would want an IT industry as well," the chief executive said on Monday. "I think some firms find that perhaps frightening. We, though, at IBM...find that to be a great opportunity."

Rometty's remarks were among the clearest acknowledgements to date by a high-ranking foreign technology executive that companies must adopt a different tack if they are to continue in China amid growing political pressure.

A number of US technology companies operating in China are forming alliances with domestic operators, hoping a local partner will make it easier to operate in the increasingly tough environment for foreign businesses.

China has been pushing for the use of more Chinese and less foreign-made technology, to grow its own tech sector and in response to ex-US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's leaks about US cybersurveillance.

IBM's sales in China have stabilized after a sharp drop that began in the third quarter of 2013 following Snowden's revelations. The Armonk, New York-based company reported a 1% slide in revenue in China during the fourth quarter of 2014, compared with the prior year.

IBM's new approach allows Chinese companies to build everything from semiconductor chips and servers based on IBM architecture, to the software that runs on those machines.

Last week IBM said Suzhou PowerCore Technology will begin producing a version of IBM's Power8 chip to run on Chinese-made servers. Its POWER line of processors is often used for intensive calculations in financial services, where Chinese banks have been required by new government regulations to use more domestic vendors.

The US company had already announced a series of partnerships with Chinese vendors and now packages its database software with products from Inspur, a server hardware maker and IBM rival, and has also struck agreements with Youyou, a Beijing-based software firm.

Other vendors are making similar efforts.

SAP SE Greater China head Mark Gibbs for instance said in October the company sought to be a "complementary player to the Chinese market" by selling its software on hardware made by Lenovo and Huawei Technologies.

IBM chalks new strategy to woo China - The Times of India

 

[terranMarine]

now that's an interesting strategy, accommodating to our requirements so they can keep surviving in China. Sounds good to me

 

[Martian2]

IBM follows in the footsteps of GM, GE, and Honeywell

GM, GE, and Honeywell have separate 50/50 joint ventures with a Chinese company. In exchange for being immunized against regulatory laws, GM, GE, and Honeywell are assured of a 50% corporate share in an ever-rising Chinese market for their products.

IBM is following in the well-trodden steps of American multinationals in creating a win-win relationship with a Chinese joint venture partner.
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GM’s China joint venture to build Indonesia factory | FT
"GM’s China joint venture to build Indonesia factory
Tom Mitchell in Beijing
February 2, 2015 6:29 am
...
Wuling, based in the southwestern province of Guangxi, is GM’s largest China joint venture. It was the first vehicle manufacturer in China to sell 1m vehicles a year — in 2009 — and in 2014 increased sales 13 per cent to almost 1.8m units. GM’s overall China sales reached 3.5m units last year.

In addition to Wuling’s ubiquitous minivans, the joint venture manufactures the popular Baojun sedan.

Separately, GM and SAIC operate another 50-50 joint venture based in Shanghai."
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GE and AVIC Sign Agreement for Integrated Avionics Joint Venture | Press Release | GE Aviation
"GE and AVIC Sign Agreement for Integrated Avionics Joint Venture
January 21, 2011
...
Chicago -- GE Aviation of the United States and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) today announced the signing of the agreement to form their new joint venture company. Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and the U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke witnessed the public signing by David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation and Zhang Xinguo, vice president of AVIC today in Chicago.

The new AVIC and GE joint venture company will develop and market integrated, open architecture avionics systems to the global commercial aerospace industry for new aircraft platforms. This system will be the central information system and backbone of the airplane's networks and electronics and will host the airplane's avionics, maintenance and utility functions. GE and AVIC will continue to service their legacy programs and existing contracts with customers. The agreement is subject to government approvals and the issuance of an operating license.

This 50/50 joint venture represents a significant milestone in the growing aerospace relationship between Chinese aviation industry and GE Aviation since the mid-1980s."
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Honeywell and Sinochem Announce Formation of Joint Venture in China
"Honeywell and Sinochem Announce Formation of Joint Venture in China
10/10/2011

Meets growing demand in Asia for energy efficient and environmentally friendlier materials

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. and SHANGHAI, CHINA, Oct. 10, 2011 -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and Sinochem Group announced today they have signed an agreement to form a 50/50 joint venture to produce and sell blowing agents for energy efficient foam insulation in China to meet growing demand in the Asia region for more energy efficient and environmentally friendlier materials. The formation of the joint venture is subject to Chinese government approval."

 

[ahojunk]

30 years ago, if you want your company to do well, you have to appease the Americans, the biggest and most important economy then.

Today, if you want your company to do well, you will have to appease the Chinese, the up and coming world biggest economy.

China is already the biggest market for cars, mobile phones, airplanes, etc.

Bottom line, it's difficult for companies to ignore where the buck is.

That's how the world economy works.

The more money you have, the louder you can talk.

 

[AndrewJin]

30 years ago, if you want your company to do well, you have to appease the Americans, the biggest and most important economy then.

Today, if you want your company to do well, you will have to appease the Chinese, the up and coming world biggest economy.

Bottom line, it's difficult for companies to ignore where the buck is.

That's how the world economy works.

The more money you have, the louder you can talk.

Seriously, why is tim tam not in China?
I always buy it in Taobao.com, why not directly open a branch in China?

 

[ahojunk]

@AndrewJin,

This is off topic.

Tim Tam belongs to Arnotts which in turn is owned by Campbell Soup of US.
In 2013, Campbell Soup acquired Kelsen Group, a Danish baked-goods company.
Kelsen has a network in China and maybe, just maybe you may be able to buy some Tim Tam at a Kelsen in the near future, hopefully.

 

[AndrewJin]

@AndrewJin,

This is off topic.

Tim Tam belongs to Arnotts which in turn is owned by Campbell Soup of US.
In 2013, Campbell Soup acquired Kelsen Group, a Danish baked-goods company.
Kelsen has a network in China and maybe, just maybe you may be able to buy some Tim Tam at a Kelsen in the near future, hopefully.

U guys don't own Tim Tam....I'm crying.

 

[cirr]

Sharp mulls providing LCD technology to Chinese firms

OFweek | Posted: 25 Mar 2015, 17:01

Japanese media reported on March 25, that Sharp Corp. is considering providing a cutting-edge LCD technology to Chinese companies to raise money for its turnaround measures, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.

Chinese display panel manufacturers including BOE Technology Group Co. and Tianma Microelectronics Co. have contacted Sharp about its low-temperature polysilicon LCD technology, the sources said.

If they come to a deal, the struggling Japanese electronics maker expects to secure tens of billions of yen in fees, the sources said.

Sharp mulls providing LCD technology to Chinese firms - OFweek News

Mainland China and Taiwan in rush of OLED investment

By: Sung Hyeon-hee | etnews.com | Posted: 25 Mar 2015, 15:10

Now that the Chinese panel manufacturer has developed into mature stage for liquid crystal display (LCD) industry, they are stepping on the gas for OLED production now. They had only produced proto models before but now with certain level of productivity, they are changing to mass production system. The OLED monopoly of South Korea is coming to an end as of this year and competition format will soon be formed.

According to the industry last week, recently China’s BOE, Tianma, Visionox and other main display industries started investing in OLED. They have been very active in OLED investment related activities such as bidding on needed pre-step equipment and facilities.

The BOE, who was first in investment, has already generated 5.5 gen. AM OLED line at their factory in Ordos City. Their production rate so far is good. They will be start their 2nd expansion investment soon. The 6th LTPS/AM OLED line in Chengdu will have needed parts ordered this year and will be generated officially starting next year.

Everdisplay, who never had created a specific product so far, has recently succeeded in producing 5, 5.5, 6 inch AM OLED panels. They will be making additional investments besides their previous 4.5 generation OLED investment.

Visionox also is in process of investing in 5.5 generation OLED. They will be ready equipment-wise by upcoming April and will go into 2nd quarter of production.

Tianma, Trulym and other companies are jumping into investing in AM OLED line, as well as Taiwan AUO and Japanese JOLED.

Especially AUO is planning to switch from 3.5 generation L3D line to flexible. Through this they will be able to expand their flexible OLED panel production. JOLED will produce OLED proto model next year, and will officially start mass-producing in 2017.

OLED investment status for Chinese and Taiwan panel companies

Mainland China and Taiwan in rush of OLED investment - OFweek News

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

@AndrewJin,

This is off topic.

Tim Tam belongs to Arnotts which in turn is owned by Campbell Soup of US.
In 2013, Campbell Soup acquired Kelsen Group, a Danish baked-goods company.
Kelsen has a network in China and maybe, just maybe you may be able to buy some Tim Tam at a Kelsen in the near future, hopefully.

Well they only sell them in one store chain here in the US (Target)...so you better cross your fingers really tightly.

 

[Martian2]

Reference: How IBM is Challenging Intel in China (IBM)

IBM will continue to build servers for the Chinese HPC (high-performance computing) market, which basically means supercomputers with a performance of one teraflop or higher.

Regarding regular servers, Taiwan's Tyan is the first out of the gate with the new IBM OpenPOWER model (which is based on the ARM business model).

"The first Power server from the OpenPOWER effort will come from Taiwanese server manufacturer Tyan. The server will be a two-socket system targeting both Internet service providers and cloud providers, and it's expected to be available during the second quarter of this year.

Source: OpenPOWER Foundation
...
The first company to design a custom Power chip is China's Suzhou PowerCore. The chip will launch during the second quarter, and it will show up in a server being targeted at the local Chinese market."