Posted on 05/04/2007 4:32:25 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
The Tech Dragon Stumbles
China's upstarts are finding life in the big leagues tougher than they reckoned
by Bruce Einhorn
In recent years, the world has watched with a mixture of fascination and trepidation as Chinese technology companies making everything from semiconductors to cell phones have pushed their way onto the global stage. Investors have piled in, hoping to reap the rewards that would flow from betting on an Intel (INTC) or Dell (DELL) in the making. Potential rivals, meanwhile, have feared that the Chinese, like the Japanese and Koreans before them, might elbow their way into prominence worldwide.
From the looks of it, neither group has it quite right. For a host of Chinese tech companies trying to adjust to life in the major leagues, these are difficult days. Cell-phone makers TCL and Ningbo Bird have seen their share of the mainland market whittled down by global giants Nokia (NOK) and Motorola (MOT). Profit margins at telecom equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE have shriveled. BOE Technology Group, the country's biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays used as screens for PCs and TVs, has dumped noncore assets to prop up earnings and is lobbying for a government bailout. Chipmakers Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., which once hoped to challenge the Taiwanese as world leaders, are limping. "Our greatest challenge is how to turn the company profitable," says Anne Chen, SMIC's Hong Kong representative.
Even computer maker Lenovo Group (LNVGY), the highest-profile of China's up-and-comers, is struggling overseas. Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's (IBM) PC division in 2005 led to predictions that it would morph into a powerhouse capable of challenging Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Instead, even as Lenovo remains the leader in China, it is falling behind big competitors abroad.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Texas Instruments set to expand RP business
THE world’s biggest producer of chips for mobile telephones said Thursday that it is investing a billion dollars to expand its operations in the Philippines.
President Arroyo and senior officials of United States-based Texas Instrument (TI) said the new investment on an assembly and test site will double the output of the company’s 28-year-old production unit in the northern Philippine resort of Baguio.
TI said work on the 77,000-square-meter site would begin in July or August at the Clark Economic Zone, a former US air base north of Manila, with construction and the installation of equipment to be completed by the end of next year.
“It is expected to eventually employ about 3,000 workers and will double the capacity that TI has in the Philippines,” a company statement said.
“Once built, we expect to quickly ramp the site [up] with the help of our experienced team in Baguio, where we’ve had assembly/test operations for almost three decades,” Kevin Ritchie, TI senior vice-president for technology and manufacturing, said in the statement.
Initial production is set to start in the second half of next year.
“The competition for this investment was fierce but we are thankful that Texas Instruments finally chose the Philippines,” Mrs. Arroyo said.
Ritchie later told reporters that the company looked at “various countries and various locations” based on the availability and quality of the labor force as well as investment incentives offered by the potential hosts.
“At the end of the day, what brought us back to the Philippines was really the performance of our site in Baguio,” he added. “The Baguio site is one of the best sites we have . . . The quality of the people there, the quality of the operation give us high confidence that we’d be able to start up a new site and have a successful new site.”
Mrs. Arroyo said TI’s expansion is the single biggest business venture in the country, adding the company would incorporate in its new site many environment-friendly features first used in the US.
She said TI officials told her that the Clark production site “will not just be an expansion of the Baguio operations, there will be new and more sophisticated products produced there as well.”
TI officials did not elaborate
Its Baguio operation conducts final assembly and testing of semiconductors for the computer, aerospace, telecommunications and automotive industries.
Assembly and test operations are the final step in semiconductor manufacturing before the chips are shipped to customers. --AFP and Sam Mediavilla
Ping!
Too much melamine in the Chinese chips?
Glad to hear it.
Maybe TI will allow the NSA to set up a big SIGINT base at Clark Field.
The CIO where I work bought a bunch of Lenovo’s desktops, they are a steaming, stinking pile. We want dells next time.
ping
I will be getting an HP NW9440 in a couple of weeks and can't wait to give it a spin. More than happy to turn in this IBM T42 of mine that had the motherboard replaced in its first year.
One of our customers insisted on Lenovo computers because he liked IBM computers. Bad move, all of them have suffered motherboard failures within a month of purchase and at this point, motherboard replacements are backordered, the wait may be as long as a month. Very poor quality control.
He was scheduled to purchase additional machines, has decided he’ll go with Dell this time. The Lenovo facility in Raleigh, NC laid of a bunch of people.
Good reference bump...
Ping-a-ling.
HP computers are outstanding. At work we will never buy another dell and are upgrading to HP/Compaq whenever we buy a new computer. Their customer service/support is first-rate.
Duncan Hunter is the only candidate addressing the threat that is China!
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