Today Chinese companies are progressing at phenomenally rapid pace and particularly tech firms have geared to compete with world’s top companies. The year 2014 saw this spurt and probably 2015 will be the year they may overtake few global giants. China which initially immerged as destination for cheap replication of top brands has now established that it has what it takes to lead from the front; the resultant is amazing work by some Chinese companies in last few years. One must admire the storm created by them at marketplace and this has influenced even critics to agree that 2015 could be the year for these great Chinese firms.
Increasingly, China’s own technology companies are challenging market leaders and setting trends in telecommunications, mobile devices and online services. Keeping better-known global competitors at bay in their massive home market, they are hiring Silicon Valley executives and expanding overseas with aggressive marketing campaigns featuring international sports stars and celebrities. Chinese companies are successful in shedding perception problem among consumers in many parts of the world that their products aren’t as high-quality or reliable as others.
Through this article we would like to earmark few Chinese companies which will influence the global trends and emerge as leaders of tomorrow.
Huawei
Huawei Technology Co Ltd’s [HWT.UL] smartphone sales rose by almost a third to $11.8 billion in 2014, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, showing the Chinese telecoms firm’s continued ascent in the global handset wars.
The division shipped about 75 million smartphones in 2014, according to the year-end memo to employees sent by Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business. Although that represented a more than 40 percent year-on-year increase, the figure lagged behind Huawei’s previously stated sales target of 80 million units. It has hit 3rd position in global smartphone market.
Lenovo
Lenovo’s share of the PC market expanded to 19.8 percent from 17.7 percent a year earlier. Hewlett-Packard Co. was in second place with 17.9 percent, up from 17.1 percent.
Lenovo maintained its number three ranking in smart connected devices growing shipments by 28 percent year-over-year. It has been the world’s largest PC maker for five consecutive quarters with its highest-ever quarterly market share of 19.4 percent up 2.7 points year-over-year, driven by big share gains in EMEA and the Americas.
Alibaba Group
After raising $25 billion in its IPO, Alibaba, which had approximate market capitalization of $250.94, is now worth more than Wal-Mart, which has a market valuation of $245.81 billion. Based on gross merchandise volume–or the total amount of goods transacted across its various platforms–the Hangzhou company is considered the largest e-commerce business in the world, with consumers buying more than $90.53 billion worth of products on marketplace sites like Tmall and Taobao in the quarter. Jack Ma, who founded the company in 1999 from a small Hangzhou apartment, is now the richest man in China following Alibaba’s record-setting IPO.
The company is now amongst top 10 most valuable companies across the globe. 2015 will prove Alibaba as undisputed leader in its niche.
Xiaomi
The Chinese smartphone maker says it’s now the most highly valued technology startup in the world. Yes, it’s even worth more than wunderkind Uber. Xiaomi announced that it raised a whopping $1.1 billion from investors, which pegged its valuation at $45 billion, slightly higher than Uber’s $40 billion-plus value. For a company that didn’t even exist before 2010, Xiaomi is on a roll: It was named the third-largest smartphone maker in the world earlier this year (which honestly makes it hard to think of it as a startup).
And it’s now focused on expansion efforts in India and Indonesia (scaling back plans to reach 10 more countries this year). It’s no wonder why Xiaomi is popular in emerging markets — its phones offer high-end specs and looks for a fraction of the price of other smartphones. While it has no plans to tackle the US or Europe yet (its next stop is Brazil next year), Xiaomi’s unique strategy and massive funding could end up driving down smartphone prices everywhere.
ZTE
2014 was a slow year for ZTE with some reported losses but the company holds portfolio of patents in electronics and produces economical smartphones. They would continue their surge in low cost phone segment and will emerge as very strong contender in this segment.
Tencent Holdings
Tencent Holdings is a company that has enjoyed virtually unprecedented success in the social media landscape. Within three years of launching WeChat in 2010 (China’s answer to WhatsApp), the company managed to grow its user base to over 400 million users in under three years – the technology now has an international fan base in over 30 countries. China’s social media landscape is enormous – the country as a whole has an internet user base of 513 million people, which is more than double the 245 million users in the United States. In a country where western social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YoutTube are officially prohibited by the Chinese Communist Party, homegrown companies have traditionally dominated. In addition, the recent initiative to form an $814 million joint venture with Dalian Wanda Group and Baidu to expand into China’s lucrative e-commerce market will also allow the company to further expand its foothold into this sector.
These top Chinese companies will take over the world in 2015 and will create change and fierce competition for years to come.
Sachin Iyer
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Dear Mr. Iyer,
your article is very interesting and inspires me. I am a political scientist with a good economic and legal knowledge, and like writing very much.
Being very open- and internationally minded, I would appreciate to stay in contact with you to exchange ideas and views.
I wish you all the best for 2015.
Best regards from Munich
Volker Kording
Thanks Mr. Kording for your comment. You are welcome to write on blogmag, please send me your posts on . I am keen to read your political and economic views. Thanks and call me just Sachin.