中国股市暴跌，殃及苹果等各大科技巨头

    中国已经成长为一个非常巨大的商业硬件和软件市场。思科系统、英特尔、惠普和微软等大型科技公司都在该国押下重注。不过随着中国经济增长势头减弱，股市暴跌，这些美国科技巨头或许将在那里度过一段艰难时光。

    中国市场的糟糕表现，可能会对美国科技公司的财务业绩造成巨大影响。在此之前，他们就已经面临了来自中国对手的激烈竞争，此外，中国政府还向本国公司施压，要求他们舍弃美国产品，购买国货。

    去年秋天，英特尔斥资15亿美元，收购了清华紫光20%的股份。这是一家旗下拥有两家中国电脑芯片设计公司的国有企业，出资方是中国最出色的研究型大学之一清华大学。

    因错失美国移动市场的机遇，半导体巨头英特尔曾经遭受很长时间的指责，而他们在中国开展移动芯片业务的计划，又面临着来自全志科技等中国芯片制造商的激烈竞争。

    为推动在该地区的销量，惠普也试图讨好清华大学。今年五月，惠普将其在华服务器和网络业务51%的股权廉价卖给了清华大学。

    在最近一次收入电话会议上，惠普CEO梅格•惠特曼对投资者表示：“对我们来说，中国仍然是很大，很重要的市场，但也存在着激烈竞争。”她表示惠普最近在中国达成的交易，如与清华大学的交易，已经给公司在中国的表现带来了一些提升。不过她也承认“宏观经济环境，尤其是在惠普已充分开展业务的国家，如俄罗斯和中国，构成相当大的挑战。”

    网络巨头思科的中国业务也遭遇了挑战。前思科首席执行官约翰•钱伯斯在5月的收入电话会议上对投资者表示，思科在中国的第三财季业绩下跌了20%。思科发言人透露称，思科在华业务目前在公司整体业务的占比不足3%。

    为了让中国的业务焕发生机，思科在6月的一份声明中表示，将向中国投资100亿美元，以“促进地方经济和商业的发展”。

    微软在中国的移动手机业务最近也受到影响。一家市场分析公司报告称，微软第二季度智能手机的出货量从前一年的5030万部猛跌至2780万部。该研究公司表示，由于微软表现下滑，华为公司超过微软成为了中国第三大智能手机制造商。

    另外，苹果首席执行官蒂姆•库克试图平息投资者对该公司中国业绩的担忧。他在本周一发邮件给美国全国广播公司CNBC财经频道主持人吉姆•克拉默，表示一切顺利。他在邮件中声称，苹果7月和8月在中国的销量继续保持强劲态势，该地区的增长速度超过了这家科技巨头的总体增长速度。

    显然，美国的科技公司正在中国遭遇困境。尽管每家公司似乎都在推出新的投资和创意，尝试着与中国建立更好的关系，但由于中国经济疲软，短期内恐怕难以取得多少收获。

    在周一的午盘交易中，思科、惠普、微软和英特尔的股价都受中国影响而下跌。思科下跌4.69%，惠普下跌3.48%，微软下跌3.46%，英特尔下跌0.3%。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    审校：任文科

    Big technology companies like Cisco Systems, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft have all made big bets on China, an already huge market for business hardware and software. But with China’s economy weakening and its swooning stock markets, U.S. tech giants may be facing a difficult time there.

    The consequences could have a major impact on the financial performance for U.S. tech companies. Even before, they faced increasingly tough competition from Chinese competitors and government pressure on Chinese companies to buy domestic products instead of American.

    Last fall, Intel INTC -0.04% plunked down $1.5 billion for a 20% stake in Tsinghua Unigroup, a state-run corporation that owns two Chinese computer chip designers and is funded by one of China’s premier research universities, Tsinghua University.

    The semiconductor company has long been criticized for missing the boat on mobile in the U.S. market, and it’s plans to generate a mobile chip business in China faces tough competition from Chinese-based chip manufacturers like Allwinner Technology.

    Hewlett-Packard HPQ -3.17% has also tried to cozy up with Tsinghua University in an effort to boost sales in the region, with the company selling off 51% of its Chinese server and networking business to the university in May.

    During a recent earnings call, HP CEO Meg Whitman told investors that “China remains a very big and important market for us, but it is very competitive.” She said HP’s recent China deals like the one it landed with Tsinghua University has already led to some improvements but she admitted that the “macroeconomic environment, particularly in places like Russia where we are over exposed, and China, is pretty challenging.”

    Networking giant Cisco has also seen challenges in its China business. Former Cisco CSCO -5.06% CEO John Chambers told investors in an earnings call in May that Cisco’s China business dropped 20% in the company’s fiscal third quarter. According to a Cisco spokesperson, Cisco’s China business currently accounts for less than 3% of the company’s total business.

    In an attempt to spark some life in the region, Cisco in June said in a statement that it would invest $10 billion into China to “support the growth of local economies and businesses.”

    As for Microsoft, it recently saw its mobile phone business take a hit in China with a market analyst firm reporting that shipments of mobile phones decreased to 27.8 million in the second quarter from the 50.3 million shipments it saw the previous year. Because of the decline, the research firm said that China-based Huawei overtook Microsoft as the country’s third biggest mobile phone maker.

    Separately, Apple CEO Tim Cook AAPL -2.50% tried to quell investor concern about his company’s performance in China by emailing CNBC host Jim Kramer Monday to say that business was doing just fine. In the note, he said sales in China remained strong in through July and August and that growth in the region outpaced the tech titan’s overall growth.

    Clearly, U.S. based technology giants are having a tough time doing business in China. And while each company seems to have been pushing new investments and initiatives to build better relationships with the country, the likelihood of those bearing any fruit any time soon is tougher now that China’s economy is hurting.

    As of mid-day trading Monday afternoon, shares of Cisco, HP, Microsoft MSFT -3.34% , and Intel were all fell amid the China news. Cisco’s shares fell 4.69%; Hewlett-Packard was down 3.48%; Microsoft lost 3.46%, and Intel dropped .3%.