On the evening of April 16, Reuters quoted U.S. government officials as saying that due to the violation of the ban, the U.S. Department of Commerce had banned US companies from selling components and parts to ZTE for a period of seven years. In March last year, ZTE had reached an agreement with the U.S. government, agreeing Pleaded guilty and paid a total fine of 892 million U.S. dollars. The reason was that ZTE sold communications equipment to Iran and other countries and violated the US export ban. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security fined ZTE with a fine of 300 million U.S. dollars.
On April 17, ZTE official Weibo responded that it had been informed that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s refusal to activate was comprehensively assessing the possible impact of this event on its potential and actively communicating and responding with all parties. At the same time, China The Ministry of Commerce also responded to the incident by saying that ZTE Corporation has conducted extensive trade and investment cooperation with hundreds of U.S. companies and contributed tens of thousands of jobs to the United States. It hopes that the U.S. will properly handle the matter in accordance with the regulations, and Creating a fair, fair and stable legal and policy environment. As of press time, ZTE has suspended trading in Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Result or mutual loss should respond strongly
As a communications equipment supplier, the US ban will undoubtedly greatly affect ZTE's business. Statistics show that about 25%-30% of ZTE's equipment comes from U.S. suppliers. Especially in the field of mobile phone chips, ZTE High-end smartphones mostly use the US Qualcomm chipset, and the ban will probably have a huge impact on the production of Axon 9 series phones.
On the other hand, the US punitive ban also hurts its home market. As we all know, ZTE has a market share of about 10% of the global telecommunications equipment market. Many U.S. components and components rely heavily on procurement from Chinese equipment manufacturers such as ZTE. For example, Acacia, 30 % was contributed by ZTE. Therefore, the impact of the ban on U.S. component suppliers was immediately obvious. In the early days of U.S. stocks opening, the stock price of many suppliers plunged in the context of the broader market. As of press release, Silicon Valley star Siguangzi Acacia tumbled 35.97%, Oclaro fell 15.18%, Lumentum fell 9.06%, finisar fell 4.05%, inphi fell 4.05%, fabrinet fell 9.81%. In addition, ZTE also participated in the Qualcomm 5G pilot program, and signed the purchase of future 5G parts with Qualcomm. Intention, the U.S. ban will undoubtedly have a great impact on both sides.
Gao Xudong, deputy director of the Center for Technological Innovation and Research of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with a reporter from the “Communications Industry News” (Net) that with the deepening of economic globalization, the relationship between global communications companies has been very close, and this time the US sanctions ZTE will not only give The negative impact of ZTE and China's communications industry will also cause certain losses to the U.S. and global communications industries.
At the same time, Gao Xudong emphasized that whether it is state-controlled holdings of ZTE, or private enterprises of Huawei, or the Chinese state-owned enterprise Shangfei, which produces the C919, is a very important strategic enterprise for China. The U.S. sanctions are for the interests of the Chinese side. With serious interference, China should give a harder response.
In response to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s sanctions against ZTE, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China stated: The Chinese side noticed that the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced measures to implement export controls on ZTE. China has always required Chinese companies to abide by the laws of the host country in the course of overseas operations. Policies, legal compliance, and operations. ZTE Corporation has conducted extensive trade and investment cooperation with hundreds of U.S. companies and contributed tens of thousands of jobs to the United States. We hope that the U.S. will properly handle them in accordance with regulations, and create fairness for enterprises. , Fair, stable legal and policy environment.
The Ministry of Commerce stated that it will pay close attention to the progress of the situation and is ready to take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
Technological hegemony destroys the industrial ecology
Behind this incident, the deeper refraction is the destruction of technological hegemony on the industrial ecology.
As we all know, the main services of ZTE include base stations, optical communications and mobile phones. Among them, some RF components such as cavity filters, optical module manufacturers, and handset structural modules in the base stations have domestic enterprises to meet self-sufficiency needs. But only The chip has insufficient self-sufficiency to a certain extent in all three application areas. In particular, ZTE needs high-speed AD/DA, modulators, high-performance phase-locked loops, and mid-range VGA production equipment with international dependence.
Therefore, the U.S. ban on ZTE has clearly sounded the alarm bells of related industries in China. It is not only a slogan that it can be controlled independently, but also relates to national security and the top priority of the national economy and people's livelihood.
In this regard, Wang Lei, an associate researcher at the Intellectual Property Development Research Center of the State Intellectual Property Office, told the reporter of the “Communications Industry News” (Net) that at present China’s chip imports have exceeded oil, and the state attaches great importance to the development of state-owned self-developed chip technology. At present, China has established large-scale chip R&D centers in Hefei and Wuhan, investing over 150 billion yuan. Although the current domestic chip design industry is still weak, but with the rise of China's chip industry, the Chinese electronics industry has long been short of 'core' problems. It is hoped that this will be the only way to deal with the next crisis similar to the ZTE sanctions.
According to Xinpeng Jun, editor-in-chief of the “Communications Industry News” (Net), China’s telecommunications industry has made considerable progress in recent years. Regardless of industrial scale or industrial ecology, it has become an important force in the global industry. In some areas, it leads the world, and innovation in some areas is at the forefront and even steps. In the meantime, there are also short boards. For example, in some core key devices, high-end chip processors and the basic software that determines ecology, they are also subject to people and rely on international supply. Therefore, they are strongly integrating innovations. At the same time, we must also lay a solid foundation for R&D, especially the key, high-end, and basic fields. We must form our own capabilities or supporting capabilities.
Xin Pengjun believes that the international cooperation and supply of the telecommunications industry are the norm of the industry. You have me and I have you. You can work in a high-tech ecosystem. You can't beat the world. You can carry key technologies. The “beating” of the industrial ecology for the trade barriers is a hegemony in the typical technology field. It reflects conservativeness and backwardness. It is undesirable both from a technical and commercial point of view. The communications industry enterprise itself, in the industrial chain cooperation policy , Also pay attention to multiple supply. Avoid 'Exclusive reliance' or 'Shop bullying customers'. To optimize suppliers globally, there is more choice.