Corporate China | Internet execs hobnob in Wuzhen; Xiaomi aims high
Most of China's high-tech attention was focused on the scenic canal city of Wuzhen near Shanghai this past week, as a who's-who of top Internet executives gathered for a conference that billed itself as a global gathering. Most of China's top names were reportedly at the event, including Baidu's (Nasdaq: BIDU) Robin Li, Alibaba's (NYSE: BABA) Jack Ma and NetEase's (Nasdaq: NTES) Ding Lei. But the guest list was notably lacking in major global names, and at least one executive commented on the sensitive subject of the exclusion of global leaders like Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) from the Chinese Internet.
Meantime, the marketing savvy Lei Jun, who is also CEO and hypemaster supreme for smartphone sensation Xiaomi, also managed to make his own mini splash in the microblogging realm by declaring his own ambition to overtake Samsung (Seoul: 005930) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) to become the world's biggest smartphone brand. Such hype from Lei isn't all that unusual, though I was somewhat surprised to see several executives from other firms chime in with support for this upwardly mobile company.
Let's begin our weekly microblogging round-up in Wuzhen, where executives were gathered for most of the week at one of China's first attempts to host a truly global Internet conference. While the event attracted plenty of Chinese, led by Premier Le Keqiang, the only major foreign attendee I noticed in the steady flow of reports was Paul Jacobs, chairman of leading global smartphone chip maker Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM). And even in that case, it's unclear if Jacobs was at the actual event or just nearby for a meeting with Premier Li Keqiang.
Jacobs certainly had plenty of reason to be in China, which is one of his company's top markets. But his company is also under investigation in China for anti-competitive practices, and he undoubtedly spent some of his time on this visit trying to argue his case in front of anti-monopoly regulators who could soon levy a record fine against Qualcomm.