A week in tech

China

Internet
• China remains to the biggest market for popular internet-based phone service, Skype, with the company registering some 13 million users in China. An eBay reports shows that the numbers of Chinese users are nearly as large as those from the US, Germany and the UK combined. The service has 6 million users in the US, 3 million in the UK and 5 million in Germany. Skype was acquired by eBay last year with $4 billion in cash and stock. It generates all of its sales from Skype Out, a service that lets Skype users make a regular phone call from a computer.

Media, Entertainment and Gaming
• Shanda Interactive Entertainment, the online entertainment media, announced the resignation of Li Shujun as the company’s CFO and senior vice president, effective the end of June, citing his aim to pursue other interests as the reason for quitting. Shanda said Daniel Zhang, the company's financial controller, will serve as CFO upon Li's departure. Li will remain as a member of the board of directors. Zhang joined Shanda in Sep. 2005 as a financial controller. Prior to joining Shanda, he spent over ten years in several major accounting firms, most recently as a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Audit and Business Advisory Division in Shanghai, China from 2002 to 2005.

Hardware
• Hengxin Technology, a manufacturer of radio frequency coaxial cables, announced that it is offering 84 million new shares in an IPO on the Singapore Exchange Mainboard. The Jiangsu province-based company hopes to raise S$18.5 million ($11.7 million) from the IPO. Of the 84 million shares offered, 5 million shares are available to the public for subscription while the remaining 79 million shares are for placement. The company’s products are sold to 24 of the 30 China Unicom branches, and 20 out of the 31 China Mobile subsidiaries, as well as major equipment manufacturers and provincial cable television networks in China. Other clients include China Telecom, China Netcom, Huawei Technologies, ZTE, Lucent Technology (China), Siemens (China), Shanghai Bell Samsung Mobile and local 3G manufacturers, such as Shanghai Datang Mobile. Hengxin posted a net profit for fiscal year in 2004 of Rmb27.3 million ($3.4 million) and Rmb45.3 million ($5.6 million) for the quarters from January to September last year, up from the Rmb20.2 million ($2.5 million) during the same period in 2004. Hengxin said it intends to use the net proceeds of approximately S$8 million ($5 million) for expansion of its manufacturing capacity and capabilities and approximately S$4 million (2.5 million) to expand its sales and marketing network. The company said it will use the balance for general working capital requirements after putting aside approximately S$3 million ($2 million) for product development. Genesis Capital is the issue manager, while UOB Kay Hian Private Limited is the underwriter and placement agent for the IPO.

• Analysys International revealed that China's laptop PC shipments were 1 million units in the first quarter of 2006, a figure that represents a 2.9-percent decline compared with the previous quarter. In a recently released report by China Laptop Market Quarterly Tracker Q1 2006, the research firm indicated that laptop market value reached 8.2 billion ($1 billion), down 2.4 percent quarter over quarter. According to the report, in the first quarter, Lenovo continued to lead the laptop market with a market share of 33.4 percent in Mainland China, followed by Hewlett-Packard and Dell. HP's market share was 10.8 percent with Dell's market share showing a 9.2-percent decline, as the cost-effective advantage of its products went down. The report added that the domestic market for laptop PCs is developing rapidly. In the first quarter of 2006, the market share of family users increased to 25.9 percent of the total laptop market in China.

Information Technology
• Sources indicate that China has become the destination for Indian IT businesses. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) disclosed its intention to set up another IT services facility in a joint venture with Microsoft and Chinese companies to be implemented in the next quarter. The company said preparations are being done now, with a deal that would see TCS holding 65 percent of the entity to be formed. The entity will cater to multinational companies in China and the region, including Korea and Japan. The new facility in Beijing's Zhongguancun Software Park will employ 1,000 engineers. The total workforce will be increased to 3,000 and 5,000 by 2010 when plans of a third development center materialize. Another company, Satyam Computers said it wants to increase its development centers in China from two to three, with its headcount rising from 300 to 5,000 in five years. Satyam said it has already hired engineers, most of them Chinese, for its facilities in Shanghai and Dalian. Infosys, another major Indian firm, announced its plans to invest US$65 million on two new software development centers, raising headcount from a mere 250 to 6,000 in five years. There are estimated to be 250,000 Chinese IT workers, many of whom are underemployed, compared with India's overworked 850,000.

storage