Firms worry at a Chinese technology ‘great leap’

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Firms worry at a Chinese technology ‘great leap’

Korean information technology products are being muscled out in overseas markets by cheaper Chinese products. According to industry sources yesterday, Korea’s market share for set-top boxes for digital broadcasting in the Middle East market could slide to 50 percent this year from 90 percent last year. “When it comes to lower-end models, Chinese companies introduced products at half the price of those made in Korea, and increased their market share to 60 percent,” said Han Man-su, the general manager of Middle East operations of Humax, a set-top box maker. Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp., two Chinese telecommunications equipment makers, recently outbid Korean companies to win contracts to supply mobile phone handsets to Pakistan and India. “We know that the Chinese companies offered prices one-fourth of those we proposed,” an LG Electronics official said. While importing mobile handsets from Samsung Electronics or LG Electronics in 2001, Chinese companies also received some technology transfers. Based on that technology, Chinese companies started their own production this year, industry officials said. Even though Chinese companies still lag behind Korean companies in high value-added information technology areas, they are catching up fast, analysts said. “The Chinese government recently adopted a ‘technological leap’ strategy, that aims to develop cutting-edge technology directly while skipping mid-level technologies,” said Kim Chan-jun of the Korea Industrial Technology Foundation. by Kwon Hyeok-joo
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