Op-Ed: What Silicon Valley must sacrifice to curb China’s exploitation of U.S. tech firms
by Larry Downes
What Silicon Valley must sacrifice to curb China’s exploitation of U.S. tech firms
by Larry Downes
April 13, 2018 (The Intercept) — In the wake of Steve Jobs’s death, a Google board member said the company had to cut off its search for a new CEO.
“The one thing we’re absolutely certain about is that we want to do whatever we can to create a future where our colleagues can work without worrying about where their next meal is coming from,” the board member said.
“We will be more courageous than anyone in the world and we will find an alternative leadership,” the tech executive added.
“The Apple board had an intense discussion, a painful discussion over a period of weeks, and arrived at the conclusion that the search for a CEO should be ended. I think Apple will continue to do business with a company that supports the mission.”
More than 20 years after Jobs passed away, Silicon Valley has learned some important lessons, most of which have been learned during the fight against Apple.
But for everyone but the most devoted Apple defenders, they’ve been hard won.
The truth is that some of the biggest tech companies are losing money hand over fist because they’re being stymied by Chinese companies like Tencent and Alibaba that are sucking the profits out of their companies.
In recent years, several prominent tech companies—including Facebook, Google, and YouTube—have been in the cross fire, with Chinese companies effectively stealing their products to build their own social media and advertising business models.
The companies themselves have been slow to fight back, and they are losing out to rivals. In the past year, Chinese companies, which are now worth more than $1 trillion, have been investing billions in the U.S. market.
The tech companies involved have seen their stock prices decline as the pressure from the Chinese companies increased.
But they haven’t been able to stop them by fighting fire with fire.
Instead of attacking the Chinese
