US-China rivalry in high-tech field - China increased market share in 9 items

Recently the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Electronic Edition reported the following:

ハイテク分野で米中拮抗　中国、9品目でシェア拡大

18年商品・サービス調査

ビジネス

2019/7/8 2:00日本経済新聞　電子版

Major product and service share survey (Source:Nikkei)

ハイテク分野で米国企業と中国企業のつばぜり合いが鮮明になっている。日本経済新聞社がまとめた2018年「主要商品・サービスシェア調査」では、中国勢がスマートフォンなど9品目でシェアを拡大した。米国勢のシェア拡大は8品目だった。先端技術を巡る覇権争いを裏付けた格好だ。激しい中国の追い上げは米国の警戒感を高め、貿易摩擦を長期化させる可能性もある。

調査対象74品目のうち、主なハイテク25品目で上位5社に入った企業数は中国勢がのべ33社、米国勢が同38社、中国と米国の合弁企業が1社だった。中国勢が上位5社に入った品目でシェアを伸ばしたのは、スマホや携帯通信インフラ（基地局）、有機ELパネル、大型や中小型の液晶パネルなど9品目だ。

米国政府が事実上の禁輸措置をとっている華為技術（ファーウェイ）はシェア争いで存在感を高めた。次世代通信規格「5G」の技術開発に力を入れる同社は携帯基地局のシェアを前年比3.0ポイント高め、首位を維持。中興通訊（ZTE）も4位に入った。

スマホではファーウェイが3位となり、2位の米アップルに迫る。4位は小米（シャオミ）、5位OPPO（オッポ）でそれぞれ中国勢がシェアを拡大した。

米国企業がシェアを伸ばした8品目は、クラウドサービスや仮想現実（VR）ヘッドセット、ハードディスクドライブ（HDD）、半導体メモリーのDRAMなどだ。

人工知能（AI）を使ったスマートスピーカーではアマゾン・ドット・コム、グーグルの米2社で6割以上のシェアを保っているが、アリババ集団、シャオミなど中国勢の追い上げが急だ。アリババは音声認識システムの精度を高め、ホンダ車への搭載を計画する動きも出てきている。

一方、17年よりシェアが低下した製品は中国が監視カメラなど2品目だったのに対し、米国はセキュリティー対策ソフトなど8品目だった。監視カメラ、セキュリティー対策ソフトとも市場が拡大する中で相対的なシェアは落ちたが、中国勢、米国勢がそれぞれ上位5社中4社を占め、優位は揺らいでいない。

世界の主要商品・サービスシェア調査は各種調査機関の推計を基に、17年と18年のシェアを算出して比較した。調査対象全74品目で見ると、首位は米国が25品目、中国が10品目だった。

米国による中国ハイテク企業の封じ込めは当面続くとみられる。既にスマホの世界生産などに影響を及ぼしており、19年のシェアが大きく変動する製品も出てきそうだ。

Translation

The close fighting between US and Chinese companies in the high-tech field was becoming clearer. In the 2018 “Major Product and Service Share Survey” compiled by Nikkei Inc., Chinese companies expanded their share of nine items including smartphones. The US market share increased in eight items. It confirmed a claim that there was a battle for supremacy over advanced technology. A fierce Chinese catch-up might raise the US vigilance and prolong trade friction.

Out of the 74 items surveyed, 25 were major high-tech items, the number of companies in the top 5 that made them, 33 were from China, 38 from the United States; and 1 joint venture between China and the United States. China's top five companies gained increased market share including nine items such as smartphones, mobile communication infrastructures (base stations), organic EL panels, and large and small LCD panels.

Huawei, which the US government was taking a de facto embargo on, had gained a strong presence in the market. Focusing on technological development of the next-generation communication standard "5G", the company increased its share of mobile base stations by 3 points from the previous year and maintained its top position. Zhongxing Telecommunication (ZTE) also came in fourth.

Huawei was third in the smartphone, approaching the second-place Apple. In the fourth place was Xiaomi Corporation, and in the fifth place was Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd, (OPPO), respectively the Chinese group gained market shares.

The eight items that US companies had gained in share were cloud services, virtual reality (VR) headsets, hard disk drives (HDDs), and semiconductor memory DRAMs.

Among the smart speakers that used artificial intelligence (AI), Amazon.com and Google two US companies held more than 60% of the share, but the Chinese group, including Alibaba group and Xiaomi, were quick to catch up. Alibaba had made moves to improve the accuracy of its speech recognition system and planned its installation on Honda vehicles.

On the other hand, while China had a decreased market share in two products compared to 2017 such as in security cameras while the US had eight products such as in security software. As the relative market share had fallen, the market had expanded in both surveillance cameras and security software. The Chinese and American stake in the top five companies had respectively remained dominant.

Based on the estimates of various research institutes, the world's major product and service share surveys were calculated by comparing the 2017 with 2018 shares. In terms of all 74 items surveyed, in the US was at the top rank in 25 items and China in 10 items.

Containment of Chinese high-tech companies by the US was expected to continue for the foreseeable future. It had already affected the global production of smartphones, and it was likely that some product shares would have big changes in 2019.

     It must be pointed out that some of the products mentioned about, for example smart phones, the product could consist of parts made by manufactures other than China and the US (e.g. Japan).