Concerns are growing about whether China-based memory chipmakers ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) will be next in line of US sanctions.

US plan to cut Chinese semiconductors import by 3-4 times in 2021.

Trade war and human rights

Nearly 40 mainly Western countries criticized China’s treatment of minority groups, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet, on Tuesday and expressed grave concern at the impact of its new national security law on human rights in Hong Kong.

The 39 countries also urged China in a joint statement read at a meeting of the General Assembly’s human rights committee, “to uphold autonomy, rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, and to respect the independence of the Hong Kong judiciary.”

but

Their statement was immediately followed by a statement from Pakistan on behalf of 55 countries opposing interference in China’s affairs when it comes to Hong Kong. It said the territory is part of China, and the national security law ensures China’s “one country, two systems” policy on Hong Kong is enduring.

Cuba followed with a statement on behalf of 45 countries supporting China’s counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang. It said measures taken by China in response to threats of terrorism and extremism were carried out within the law to safeguard the human rights of all ethnic groups in the province.

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China imported 53.72 billion integrated circuits in September, with a total value of 256.93 billion yuan. This is another record high for China's single-month imports of integrated circuits after July, according to data released by China's General Administration of Customs on October 13.

Japan not joining U.S. plan to exclude Chinese firms from telecoms networks -Yomiuri

TOKYO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Japan informed the United States that Tokyo, at the moment, won’t participate in Washington’s plan to exclude Chinese firms from telecommunications networks, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday, citing several sources. Japan will take its own steps to respond in case there are worries over security issue, while Tokyo will cooperate with the United States, the paper said.

Some countries may be just stalling for as long as possible, as it will cost billions to rip out and replace current Huawei Equipment. Billions nobody wants to spend. By that time, China and Mordor maybe installing 6g :)

OTTAWA — Sep 14, 2020 Canada is signalling it might not compensate major telecommunications providers if the federal government bans equipment made by China’s Huawei from 5G networks, setting up a potential fight over a bill that could hit $1 billion (US$758 million).

Australia is shocked – shocked – to discover that its main supplier of telecom equipment, Ericsson, depends on Chinese equipment from Panda Electronics, a Nanjing-based manufacturer that appears on the Pentagon’s latest list of Chinese companies linked to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The supposedly incendiary revelation, by now widely reported in the Australian press, came as the US Defense Department named Panda as being "owned by, controlled by or affiliated with China's government, military or defense industries.”

Panda Electronics, it turns, has a joint venture in China with Swedish giant Ericsson, a major supplier of equipment used by Australian telecom network providers Telstra and Optus. Those tie-ups means Panda, by at least one degree of separation, is and will be involved with Australia’s pending 5G rollout.

Japan already eliminates Chinese vendors from their telecom networks. Softbank is the one that uses Chinese vendors and they already said they will stop doing so with 5G. NTT Docomo never uses Chinese gears in any case, and same goes with KDDI. So Japanese government does not need to edict any ruling here, they only need to tell Japanese companies unofficially, as they always do.

Xiaomi, OPPO reportedly stockpiling Japanese parts and increasing production 2020-10-18 17:30:24 GMT+8

Xiaomi, OPPO reportedly stockpiling Japanese parts and increasing production significantly Japanese electronic parts makers received large stockpiling orders from Chinese handset makers such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo to fill the loss of orders from Huawei, according to Nikkei Asia.

Huawei's orders were suspended after US sanctions took effect on September 15. Still, a surge in demand from rivals such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo filled the gap, according to the report on Friday. Some customers are looking for Japanese technology, fearing that the US could extend the ban to other Chinese companies.

Total smartphone shipments are expected to fall for the fourth consecutive time in 2020, according to market researcher IDC. A 10 percent decrease to 1.2 billion units, due in part to Covid-19. However, some manufacturers have more aggressive production plans to fill Huawei's market share.

Apple recently announced to its suppliers that it plans to produce 220 million iPhones this year, 10 percent more than it previously expected. Xiaomi and OPPO are looking to seriously ramp up production in 2021, according to several of their suppliers, to reach a goal of 200 million phones each, which is more than half of what they will produce in 2020.

Huawei is expected to produce about 190 million phones this year, 20 percent less than in 2019. While Huawei has stockpiles of spare parts to minimize the immediate impact of sanctions, these reserves can only go so far. The company is thought to have about six months' worth of parts, with production expected to fall from the first quarter of 2021.

TDK Corporation, a Japanese electronic parts maker, expects other companies to purchase more than Huawei's lost business. An employee of a major Japanese electronic parts maker said, "Orders at the end of September are already at a record high, and some manufacturers are planning to double their production plans for next year."

Chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. was asked by a Chinese customer to have a non-US engineer redesign a specific product at a factory outside the United States. Zuken, a supplier of circuit board design software, reports growing interest from companies in China and elsewhere in finding alternatives to US-made tools.

In addition, suppliers are distancing themselves from the US in order to continue doing business with Huawei. Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. has begun using Japanese-made equipment instead of some US equipment to test components for Huawei's base stations. However, one supplier warned that this is a special one-time demand boost that may be adjusted in early 2021.

Despite the Boycott Made in China campaign in India. There are more Chinese smartphones available in the Rs 10,000-20,000 price range in India than non-Chinese ones. This also happens to be the range that half of the Indians surveyed by Counterpoint Research said they would stick to when buying a smartphone. India is also flooded with more Chinese smartphones brands than those from any other country. This means the chances of an Indian buying a Chinese brand is much higher, said the survey.

According to another market research firm IDC, nearly 76 per cent of the 32.5 million smartphones shipped to India in the quarter ending March 2020 belonged to Chinese smartphone brands. The same IDC data also showed that four of the five top smartphone brands in India are Chinese. Xiaomi, a Chinese brand, has the highest market share in India, followed by Vivo. At number three is Samsung, the only non-Chinese brand to be in the top five, followed by Realme, and Oppo, both Chinese brands.

Even in the refurbished market for smartphones, Chinese brands are among the most popular. Yaantra is a firm that partners with 35,000 re-sellers who buy refurbished phones and sell them to consumers. Yaantra co-founder and CEO Jayant Jha told ThePrint that Xiaomi smartphones sell the most, followed by Samsung, OnePlus and Apple phones. While business has resumed, he said, there hasn’t been any change in consumer sentiment.

Be very careful with Huawei!

Company plans to abandon service for most models worldwide (they don't have motherboards and lot of components). It won't be public, but you will be told that you damaged smartphone yourself, also lot of service centers will stop working with Honor and Huawei brands.

Next - company plant totally abandoning Android and moving into their own OS that will require significant apps rewriting. You already can't install up to 40% of most popular apps - and with such move in 2021 (will be automatic other the air update, impossible to go back) it will be much worse.

How Covid-19 helped drive growth Between EU and China

With many airlines grounded due to travel restrictions, the China-Europe freight train service experienced a record peak in demand during the coronavirus pandemic. With a new route now expected between Xi’an and Barcelona, how has the line evolved over the years, and what does its future look like post-pandemic?

Freight rates have been on a steady increase lately, reaching record levels during the Covid-19 crisis and putting rail transport under the spotlight. Having witnessed a 41.7% year-on-year increase in cargo rates as a result of coronavirus, Xi’an’s transport hub was quick to open a dedicated channel for trains to continue normal operations and support the economy in early 2020. “Railway transportation’s safety, stability and speed in [recent] years were [noticed] by the majority of customers,” says Boer. “Compared with air and ship transportation, the reliability of railway transportation during the outbreak of coronavirus has been fully verified.”

The pandemic indeed offered the New Silk Road rail service the opportunity to take up orders that would usually be destined for ships, roads and aircraft. “Rail is faster, allows for long-distance transportation and solves the problem of undershipment caused by the asynchronous lockdowns [that took place] in countries around the world,” explains Ekaterina Kozyreva, international projects director at the Infrastructure Economics Centre.

With planes grounded and restrictions in place at border crossings and ports, the railways have emerged as the ideal alternative for the transportation of cargo, especially medical equipment sent from China to Europe. “Traffic really shifted from roads to rail because roads have a heavy human resource requirement,” she continues. “That’s a weak point because the more staff [there are] the more health checks [there are], while for the railways there is no such problem because there is a locomotive team arriving at the border where it changes, and [then] there’s another locomotive belonging to another country with local staff.” Echoing her words, Boer adds: “During the epidemic, the train [service] stabilised the trade and supply chain between China and Europe, and became the ‘life channel’ for the transportation of epidemic prevention materials.”