Trade war hinders Chinese investment in US tech firms
March 11, 2019
Attempts by the United States to block Chinese access to its latest technologies have affected cross-border investments in both countries, reported the South China Morning Post.
According to the latest data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, a financial and industry data provider, total investment from Chinese firms into the American semiconductor and technology hardware segments in 2018 fell sharply from $1.03 billion to $203.4 million.
Software and services were the only areas in the US tech sector to see an increase in Chinese investment last year, which was primarily driven by an $8 billion investment in Uber by a group of investors that included Tencent Holdings.
In addition, acquisitions of American tech companies by Chinese firms have fallen by two-thirds, from 33 deals in 2017 worth $1.7 billion to 11 deals worth $688.8 million in 2018, according to the financial data provider Refinitiv.
Tensions between the world’s two largest economies could potentially cause a long-term split in future research and development between Shenzhen and Silicon Valley, said analysts and market observers.