In the past few months, as the United States has escalated its suppression of China and the “anti-globalization” of the supply chain spurred by the epidemic, news about the withdrawal of foreign-invested factories from China has continued to appear on the Internet. TSMC, Intel, Microsoft and other companies have successively reported that they have “cut off supply” to Chinese companies. A few days ago, South Korea’s Samsung also announced that it would close its Chinese factory and its supply chain began to move to India and Vietnam.
Data map: Samsung Group (South Korea) Economic TV)
Combining rumors about foreign companies “cutting off supply” to China
1. Intel cuts supply to Inspur
On June 29, rumors spread that Intel would stop supplying to Chinese server giant Inspur. In response to this news, Intel said: Intel needs In accordance with relevant U.S. laws, we have made some corresponding adjustments to our supply chain, so we have to temporarily suspend supply to this customer.
2. TSMC cuts off supply to Huawei
News on July 17 , according to foreign media reports, TSMC revealed at the revenue conference that due to the impact of the US government’s ban on the Chinese company Huawei, TSMC has not accepted any orders from Huawei since May 15, and if the US government bans Huawei The sanctions remain unchanged and the company will stop supplying Huawei after September 14.
3. Microsoft is rumored to have cut off supply to China
August In September, there were rumors on Chinese social media that Microsoft had updated its service agreement on its official website, stating that if Microsoft is unable to perform or delays in performing its obligations due to force majeure, Microsoft will not bear any responsibility or liability. Although Microsoft denies the rumors, there are interpretations that if the US government imposes a ban on Microsoft, Microsoft may cut off supplies to China.
Source: Global Times
Some people believe that Microsoft is really Cutting off supply to China will be a major opportunity for domestic software.
4. Samsung has closed factories in China one after another
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics announced , will close its computer factory in Suzhou. According to Suzhou Samsung Electronics Computer Co., Ltd.’s “Relevant Instructions to Employees”, Samsung’s Suzhou computer factory will shut down its production lines. In fact, starting in 2014, Samsung has accelerated the withdrawal of some businesses from China. In recent years, Samsung has successively closed its smartphone factories in Tianjin, Huizhou, Shenzhen and other places.
“Epidemic + anti-globalization” are the two main reasons
This year’s COVID-19 epidemic is also one of the reasons why some companies have withdrawn from China. In the face of global public health events, many countries have discovered their own shortcomings in manufacturing, making them unable to cope with the impact of the epidemic.
With the encouragement of some American politicians, the global industrial chain and supply chain have become significantly “de-China-oriented”. Since March this year, the news of foreign-funded companies withdrawing from China has been a hot topic in major media. It was mainly caused by two pieces of news: The White House economic adviser proposed to attract American companies to leave China, and the government would pay for it; Japan planned to spend 220 billion yen to help Japanese companies transfer production lines to China.
1. The United States and Japan use the epidemic to reduce “over-reliance on China”
As the COVID-19 epidemic devastates the U.S. economy, the United States is busy erecting trade barriers and constantly pressuring U.S. companies to break away from dependence on China’s supply chain and move out of China. On April 9, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, mentioned that one policy that may attract American companies to return from China is to expensing 100% of the repatriation expenditure directly and immediately, including factories, equipment, intellectual property structures, decoration, etc. According to his explanation, this “is equivalent to us paying for the cost of American companies moving back to the United States from China.”
In response to the negative impact of the new crown epidemic on the economy, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has launched a total of 108 trillion yen (approximately RMB 7 trillion). An economic relief package to combat the pandemic. Among them, the “Reform Supply Chain” project specifically lists 243.5 billion yen (approximately RMB 15.8 billion) to fund Japanese manufacturers to withdraw production lines from China in order to diversify production bases and avoid over-reliance on the supply chain. China.
Trump Source: Getty
2. The Trump administration pressures foreign companies to withdraw from China
Since Trump came to power, his intention to contain China and his anti-globalization tendency have become increasingly obvious . In the past two years, the United States has successively adopted tariff measures to force foreign-invested companies to leave China.
It should be noted that there is news that under pressure from the Trump administration, Apple is withdrawing from China and will also “take away” Foxconn.
According to Reuters, people familiar with the matter revealed that Apple is gradually shifting its production focus out of China and moving its production lines in China to other countries such as India. Apple CEO Tim Cook previously stated at a meeting with investors that the first Apple store will be opened in India before 2021.Fruit store.
Reuters also pointed out that Apple “strongly requested” Foxconn to move some of its production capacity out of China and subsequently to India. Foxconn responded to this news: it will not comment on any rumors about customers, products, or supply chain partners. He didn’t deny it either.
According to a market research organization, “China is losing its charm as the world’s smartphone factory” and pointed out that there are probably three reasons. One is that the labor costs of Chinese workers are rising; The impact of the U.S.-China trade war, and third, India’s smartphone sales are gradually increasing and it is becoming an emerging market. “Especially since India promulgated the Make in India policy”, “India has developed into the world’s second largest market, and many companies have been shaken by India’s policies.”
99.1% of foreign companies stated that they will continue to invest and operate in China
In At a press conference on the 4th, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that China has not and will not experience a large-scale withdrawal of foreign investment or relocation of industrial and supply chains. On the contrary, due to the stable expectations of China’s economic recovery, continuously optimized business environment, large-scale market advantages and domestic demand potential, many foreign-funded enterprises are accelerating their deployment in China and actively expanding the Chinese market.
The results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the Shanghai Representative Office of the Japan External Trade Organization on 710 major Japanese companies in East China in early April also showed that more than 90% of Japanese companies said they would not Because of problems in the industrial chain, we will withdraw from China and change the supply chain.
The results of a recent questionnaire survey released by the Ministry of Commerce of China indicate that 99.1% of foreign-funded enterprises stated that they will continue to invest and operate in China. The recent survey results of more than 150 companies by the U.S.-China Business Council also show that China’s measures to further open up and optimize the business environment in recent years have created convenience for foreign companies to produce and operate in China, and U.S. companies are still optimistic about the Chinese market. Compared with previous years, more well-known companies have signed up to participate in the third China International Import Expo, which is being prepared. The average exhibition area of the world’s top 500 companies and industry leading companies will increase by 14% compared with the second edition.
From the overall data point of view, in the first half of this year, my country’s actual use of foreign capital has reached 472.18 billion yuan, which intuitively demonstrates the continued optimistic attitude of foreign capital towards the Chinese market.
In addition to the above data, the investment layout actions of some companies in China prove that “large-scale withdrawal of foreign capital from China” is nonsense.
In fact, some Japanese companies are still increasing their exposure to the Chinese market. For example, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota announced in March this year that it will cooperate with its Chinese partner FAW Group to invest approximately 8.5 billion yuan in China’s Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City to build a new electric vehicle manufacturing plant.
At the same time, European and American companies continue to enter the Chinese market. For example, the American electric vehicle giant Tesla has promised to expand investment in Shanghai and accelerate localized production; American chip manufacturers Intel and Qualcomm have also invested in three Chinese start-ups respectively; German Daimler also revealed in July , has launched a far-reaching strategic cooperation with Chinese battery manufacturer Funeng Technology, including taking a stake.
The reason why European, American and Japanese companies continue to increase their investment in the Chinese market actually reflects the strong advantages currently existing in China’s industrial and supply chains.
There is another piece of news worth noting: British Reuters reported on August 8, citing the Wall Street Journal, that the US chip giant Qualcomm is lobbying the Trump administration, calling for the cancellation of the Restrictions on companies selling chips to Huawei.
Despite the continuous good news, it cannot be ignored that the impact of the epidemic combined with the rise of protectionism has led to the emergence of anti-globalization trends. The global industrial and supply chains still face huge risks, so we must pay attention to and stabilizing supply chains should be top priorities. </p
