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Businesses China The Almighty Buck United States Technology

Chinese 'Accelerators' In Silicon Valley Aim To Bring Startups Home (reuters.com) 74

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Beijing's unslakeable thirst for the latest technology has spurred a proliferation of "accelerators" in Silicon Valley that aim to identify promising startups and bring them to China. The surge in the number of China-focused accelerators -- which support, mentor and invest in early-stage startups -- is part of a larger wave of Chinese investment in Silicon Valley. At least 11 such programs have been created in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2013, according to the tech-sector data firm Crunchbase. Some work directly with Chinese governments, which provide funding. Reuters interviews with the incubators showed that many were focused on bringing U.S. startups to China. For U.S. government officials wary of China's growing high-tech clout, the accelerator boom reaffirms fears that U.S. technological know-how is being transferred to China through investments, joint ventures or licensing agreements. "Our intellectual property is the future of our economy and our security," Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic vice-chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement to Reuters about Chinese accelerators. "China's government has clearly prioritized acquiring as much of that intellectual property as possible. Their ongoing efforts, legal or illegal, pose a risk that we have to look at very seriously."
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Chinese 'Accelerators' In Silicon Valley Aim To Bring Startups Home

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  • by CrimsonAvenger ( 580665 ) on Sunday May 20, 2018 @12:25PM (#56643176)

    If you don't like their LEGAL efforts, then,being a Congresscritter, you can work to change the relevant LAWS.

    Now, if they're doing illegal things, then you don't need to change the relevant laws, just enforce them. Equally. For everyone. Don't do this silly crap of "enforce the letter of the law if they're Chinese, but ignore the law if they're British/French/German (read: white guys like us).

    • by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Sunday May 20, 2018 @12:34PM (#56643204)

      If you don't like their LEGAL efforts, then,being a Congresscritter, you can work to change the relevant LAWS.

      Now, if they're doing illegal things, then you don't need to change the relevant laws, just enforce them. Equally. For everyone. Don't do this silly crap of "enforce the letter of the law if they're Chinese, but ignore the law if they're British/French/German (read: white guys like us).

      Or, being a responsible legislator, he could say "Hey, we've identified a potentially serious threat. We need to study it so we can take appropriate action."

      Politicians don't have a magic box that gives them perfect unbiased information, they (and their staffs) need to do research and check sources just like everyone else. The right answer might even be "don't change anything but keep monitoring".

    • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Sunday May 20, 2018 @12:53PM (#56643264) Journal
      First off, you are not European and I doubt that you are Caucasian.
      Secondly, there is a HUGE difference in intentions. Europeans that are grabbing knowledge and companies in America are not about to bomb America with it. In addition, it is NOT 1-way only. We are allowed to buy land, companies, etc in over in Europe. OTOH, Your nation, china, blocks the west from doing the same thing.
      • by Anonymous Coward

        The real risk when dealing with companies in Western nations like Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Australia is that they have broken immigration systems that let in far too many people who outright refuse to integrate in any meaningful way. When a business in the US deals with businesses in such nations, there's a very good chance they're dealing with a foreign national who holds no allegiance to the Western nation they're taking advantage of. In some cases these people are outright hostile to their new

        • When a business in the US deals with businesses in such nations, there's a very good chance they're dealing with a foreign national who holds no allegiance to the Western nation they're taking advantage of

          As a European, with some very serious doubts about the current level of immigration, the failure of many immigrants to integrate properly (for whatever reason that may be), and what the long term effects on our society will be, I still have to ask: where did you get this ridiculous notion?

    • by whizzter ( 592586 ) on Sunday May 20, 2018 @01:04PM (#56643310) Homepage
      It's not about "whiteness" when it comes to China, it's about a level playing field. Companies in China must be majority owned by Chinese persons or companies so even if car companies,etc has precence in China their local subsidiaries are in some fashion China owned and thus exposed to the possibility of technology theft.

      For example read up on how China became the Nr #1 country in high speed trains and the bitter taste it left for companies that tried to invest in subsidiaries there to have their tech stolen and now used agains't them aborad.

      http://fortune.com/2013/04/15/did-china-steal-japans-high-speed-train/

      http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2107096/china-says-its-bullet-train-technology-was-stolen-days-after-us
      • For example read up on how China became the Nr #1 country in high speed trains and the bitter taste it left for companies that tried to invest in subsidiaries there to have their tech stolen and now used agains't them aborad.

        This is what greed looks like. China has done this kind of thing constantly, they have whole facilities which do nothing but study other people's chips for the purpose of knocking off their technology wholesale. Sure, I expect Intel and AMD to de-lid each other's CPUs to see how they did things, but the Chinese are doing it regularly for the purpose of making direct counterfeits. This is basically true in every industry in which they are involved, but foreign companies keep lining up to hand them their IP b

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Not sure where you got your information from.

        Companies in China do not need to be majority owned by Chinese persons or companies, except in very specific fields. The going trend is reducing the specific fields as well. You should try reading about WOFEs when you get the chance.

        BTW China would be happy if the US would allow them to create JVs in the US, rather than not allowing any sort of investment in a large amount of fields.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Can you blame them though? They were not happy about the US buying up half their country they have done in other places, and didn't want to become another US subsidiary.

        This is the problem with protectionism. It ends up screwing everyone more than cooperating.

      • What the fuck are you talking about? You can set up Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise [wikipedia.org] in China.

        A Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE, sometimes incorrectly WOFE) is a common investment vehicle for mainland China-based business wherein foreign parties (individuals or corporate entities) can incorporate a foreign-owned limited liability company.[1] The unique feature of a WFOE is that involvement of a mainland Chinese investor is not required, unlike most other investment vehicles (most notably, a sino-foreign joint venture).

    • just enforce them. Equally. For everyone

      If you can get better results by selectively enforcing the laws, then why not ? Simpler than having the laws changed.

      • If you can get better results by selectively enforcing the laws, then why not ?

        We have a word for selective enforcement: Corruption. You pay a bribe, and we let you slide.

        Simpler than having the laws changed.

        More profitable too.

        • We have a word for selective enforcement: Corruption. You pay a bribe, and we let you slide.

          That's just one particular example of of selective enforcement, probably not relevant here.

  • many of us have been saying that CHina is about destroying the west. So far, they have been getting big in academia, bringing in others from their nations, and then sending them home. Just as Manufacturing was taken from America, china will take R*D from here. And again, I will say that CONgress, esp the GOP but dems are complicit as well, along with MBAs in our businesses, are the main cause of this.
    • by HiThere ( 15173 ) <charleshixsn.earthlink@net> on Sunday May 20, 2018 @02:42PM (#56643616)

      The effect may be destroying the west, but that isn't the goal. The goal is building up China. The ways they are doing it are little different than those used by the US during the late 1700's and early 1800's.

      The thing that's destroying the west isn't China building up, but the US decaying, letting it's infrastructure collapse, and dismantling its industrial capabilities.

      Now if you were to claim that China is trying to become more powerful than the West, I'd agree. That's a real truth.

      Note that this is in clear distinction to certain religious fanatics who actually *are* trying to destroy the US. (And they aren't all of any one particular faith.)

  • Not a problem. If a particular "chinese" startup demonstrates success, is gaining traction, etc then someone in the US could always create a copycat product.
  • American is having to rely heavily on foreign scientists immigrating here. This is going to accelerate because, well, we slashed funding to schools in the 90s and kept at it through the 2000s. Schools don't have enough space for the qualified applicants. After all, why pay for your own schools if you can get other countries to do it for you?

    Trouble is those immigrant scientists don't have a lot of attachment to the country. Now, if you're a wealthy billionaire nationalism is kind of pointless. You're in
  • Jìng-Yáng has finally taken over from Eric Buckman.
  • Chinese company ideas:
    New Snapchat
    New Facebook
    New Zillow
    New Expedia

    New Reddit
    New Grubhub
    New Spotify
    New Kickstarter
    New Pied Piper

A committee takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom. -- Parkinson

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