According to the "Wall Street Journal" (WSJ) on April 16, citing sources, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is considering launching a new Section 301 investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to counter China's efforts in cloud computing and other So-called "unfair restrictions" in high-tech services. The newspaper commented that this actually opened up a new battlefield for the trade offensive against China.
The report claims that China requires US cloud computing companies such as Amazon and Microsoft to form joint ventures with Chinese companies and license technology to the Chinese side. USTR also said in a previous report on China's trade practices that China restricts the issuance of independent operating licenses to U.S. companies, so U.S. companies cannot directly sell their cloud computing services or sign contracts with customers in China.
Wang Shouwen, vice minister of commerce and deputy international trade negotiator, said at a briefing on April 4 that the U.S. accusation of China's "forced technology transfer" in the "Section 301" investigation report is groundless. There is no legal requirement that a foreign company must transfer its technology to a Chinese partner, and there is no legal requirement to do so.
Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, also said on April 12 that regarding the so-called "forcing American companies to transfer technology to Chinese companies", in China's foreign investment management regulations, foreign companies have never been compelled to transfer to Chinese joint ventures or Chinese companies. Requirements for technology transfer to joint venture parties. In "Made in China 2025" and related policies, there are also no provisions forcing foreign companies to transfer technology. Whether an enterprise obtains technology through independent development or through commercial cooperation is an independent behavior of the enterprise. The Chinese government has never interfered and will not make restrictive regulations.
In 2017, Alibaba Cloud's revenue was 10 billion RMB, including private cloud and exclusive cloud, while AWS's revenue was 20 billion US dollars, which was 12.5 times that of Alibaba Cloud. AWS accounted for about 50% of the global cloud computing market, while Alibaba Cloud only had 4 %about. Cloud computing itself is a game of scale and cost. Scale determines the ability to lead in technology. Simply put, manufacturers who study the most advanced technologies cannot turn into truly meaningful revenue without a certain scale of practice. And Ali's technological breakthroughs, without large-scale customer support, are basically nonsense. The scale itself determines the cost and the bargaining power of upstream and downstream manufacturers. The price of AWS purchasing intel chips is definitely lower than that of Ali. The price advantage allows AWS to keep cutting prices, keeping itself profitable and forcing rivals to suffer.
Therefore, to put it simply, it is impossible to make a cloud without scale, and the demand of the Chinese market alone cannot support Ali's growth needs, and must go overseas. When going to sea, Europe and the United States are the battlegrounds. Regarding the questions of public opinion, Jack Ma's Ali side only responded with "no comment".
It is reported that the main businesses of cloud computing companies include storage, software and analysis, and the above services are generally considered to be the most promising and the fastest growing. Alibaba Cloud is one of the largest companies in the field of cloud computing in my country. It is reported that Alibaba Cloud's cumulative revenue in 2017 reached 11.2 billion yuan, and it is also the first cloud computing company in Asia to exceed 10 billion in annual revenue. Not only that, the number of paid users of Alibaba Cloud has tripled in two years, exceeding 1 million. In the global market, only Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure are bigger than Alibaba Cloud. It can be seen that Alibaba Cloud is a great threat to cloud computing in the United States. It is no wonder that the United States intends to burn the trade war to Alibaba Cloud. However, after all, the government has not yet made a decision, and the boots have not yet landed. How do you see the follow-up development? Welcome to discuss together.