Technology

Trump looms over the successful global expansion of Chinese smartphone players

Published

5 months ago

March 5, 2025

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The Xiaomi booth at the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain.

Arjun Kharpal | CNBC

BARCELONA — U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued clashes with China over tech and trade looms heavy over Chinese smartphone vendors who have grown globally in the past few years, creating uncertainty over whether some of these companies may be targeted by Washington, similarly to Huawei.

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Chinese electronics players from Xiaomi to Honor and Oppo were out in force, showing off their latest devices. Xiaomi even had its latest electric vehicle — the SU7 Ultra – on show as it looked to create a buzz.

Xiaomi also launched a high-end smartphone while Honor announced a $10 billion investment in AI. Oppo touted its AI privacy features and other lesser-known players like Tecno, owned by Transsion, unveiled products like AI glasses.

Huawei was also in attendance, and showed off the Mate XT, a trifold smartphone which it has launched in international markets as it charts a very cautious comeback to the global sphere.

To some extent, Huawei serves as a cautionary tale to other Chinese players. The Shenzhen-headquartered firm was once the biggest smartphone vendor in the world until U.S. sanctions crushed its handset business.

Just as Huawei is looking to dip its toe into international smartphone sales again and other Chinese players are growing quickly, Trump is back in the White House, which is likely to overshadow these companies’ presence at MWC, according to Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight.

“I think also unfortunately for Huawei, just as they are starting to get back on their feet, the re-emergence of Trump and his overall strategy with regards to ‘America First’ and placing pressure on the Chinese, not only affects Huawei, but it affects all of the Chinese manufacturers that will be at MWC,” Wood told CNBC.

“I think it’s very much going to be the elephant in the room at MWC with regards to a huge amount of investment and lavish spending by the Chinese manufacturers, with the shadow of what’s going to happen in coming months hanging over them.”

Xiaomi, Oppo and Honor were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Chinese players have been a feature of MWC for several years as they’ve expanded their footprint globally. Now eight of the top 10 smartphone players are headquartered in China, according to Canalys data. Xiaomi for example is the world’s third-largest.

Xiaomi displayed its new SU7 Ultra electric car at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Arjun Kharpal | CNBC

Xiaomi has grown its presence in Europe while others, like Transsion, have focused on emerging markets. With that success also comes the potential for further scrutiny, Wood said.

“The danger for these manufacturers is if they put their head too far above the parapet, they’ll start to get scrutiny from the U.S. administration,” Wood said.

“So I think they have to tread a fine line in Barcelona and make sure that they don’t make too much noise because the last thing they want is to be the poster child for Chinese technology and become the latest focal point for Trump and his advisors.”

So far, Trump has focused on raising tariffs on Chinese imports. But there has been little action on the technology restriction front. Under the previous President Joe Biden, Washington brought in several rounds of restrictions that looked to cut off China’s access to advanced technology in areas such as semiconductors.

Europe focus

Other analysts agree there is a risk of increased scrutiny but point to a couple of key reasons why other Chinese manufacturers may not be restricted the way Huawei was.

Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for data and analytics at International Data Corporation (IDC), said that the Chinese brands are focusing their efforts on Europe rather than the U.S., which could help deflect scrutiny from Washington.

“They [Chinese players] definitely don’t have a chance selling in the U.S., but if they continue targeting Europe as they are, I don’t think that’s a risk and I don’t think it will come to a point where the U.S. administration will tell whatever countries in Europe they need to stop selling Xiaomi or Honor or any other brand,” Jeronimo told CNBC.

“I don’t think there’s a massive risk because at the end of the day as they are not targeting U.S. consumers.”

Honor announced at $10 billion AI investment called the Honor Alpha Plan at the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona.

Arjun Kharpal | CNBC

Another reason why the U.S. may not target Chinese firms as heavily as Huawei is because it could harm American tech firms, according to Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research.

“It’s hard to say how much Trump will tighten the screws on Chinese players because they’re dependent on Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm,” Shah told CNBC.

Chinese players selling outside of China run Google’s Android operating system on their smartphones. Meanwhile, many of them rely on chips from U.S. firm Qualcomm. Many Chinese smartphone makers also sell laptops and tablets which may run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Restricting Chinese companies’ access to this technology could harm U.S. firms, Shah argues.

“Qualcomm will lose out, Microsoft will lose out and eventually Google will lose out as well,” Shah said.

Technology

Airbnb beats on top and bottom lines for second quarter

Published

1 hour ago

August 6, 2025

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Airbnb beats on top and bottom lines for second quarter

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Airbnb reported second-quarter results on Wednesday that beat analysts’ expectations.

Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.03 vs. 93 cents expected
Revenue: $3.10 billion vs. $3.04 billion expected

Revenue increased 13% from $2.75 billion during the same period last year. The company reported net income of $642 million, or $1.03 per share, up from $555 million, or 86 cents per share, a year earlier.

In the third quarter, Airbnb expects to report revenue of $4.02 billion to $4.10 billion, or $4.06 billion in the middle of the range. Analysts were expecting $4.05 billion for the period, according to LSEG.

In a letter to shareholders, the company said it had a strong second quarter, even against a volatile macroeconomic backdrop. U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff and trade policies plunged markets into chaos for much of April.

“Despite global economic uncertainty early in the quarter, travel demand picked up, and nights booked on Airbnb accelerated from April to July,” the company said.

Airbnb reported 134.4 million nights and seats booked, up 7% from a year ago and above the 133.35 million expected by StreetAccount.

Gross booking value, which Airbnb uses to report host earnings, service fees, cleaning fees and taxes, totaled $23.5 billion in the second quarter. That figure is above the $22.66 billion expected by analysts polled by StreetAccount.

Airbnb said it received authorization for new share repurchase program of up to an additional $6 billion of Class A common stock. The company said it repurchased $1 billion of Class A common stock during the second quarter, and previously had authorization to purchase $1.5 billion more as of June 30.

Airbnb shares were down slightly in extended trading. They’ve slipped 0.7% for the year as of Wednesday’s close, while the Nasdaq is up almost 10%.

Airbnb will hold its quarterly call with investors at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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Technology

DoorDash shares rise on earnings, revenue beat

Published

1 hour ago

August 6, 2025

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DoorDash shares rise on earnings, revenue beat

Doordash food delivery service in New York City on Feb. 13, 2025.

Danielle DeVries | CNBC

DoorDash shares climbed about 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the food delivery company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the second quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared to analyst estimates based on LSEG’s consensus:

Earnings per share: 65 cents vs. 44 cents expected
Revenue: $3.28 billion vs. $3.16 billion expected

Revenue jumped 25% from $2.63 billion a year earlier, DoorDash said in a press release. The company reported net income of $285 million, or 65 cents a share, after recording a loss of $157 million, or 38 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Orders increased 20% from a year earlier to 761 million. Gross order value (GOV) rose 23% to $24.2 billion.

DoorDash shares have soared 54% this year as of Wednesday’s close, lifting the company’s market cap to $109 billion. The Nasdaq is up almost 10% in 2025.

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Doordash one day stock chart.

Delivery and rideshare stocks have strong demand and growth, says Bernstein's Nikhil Devnani

Technology

Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi unit clears regulatory hurdle, safety probe

Published

2 hours ago

August 6, 2025

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Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi unit is ramping up vehicle production at a new facility in Hayward, California.

Zoox

Amazon‘s Zoox has cleared a key regulatory hurdle, paving the way for demonstrations of its self-driving robotaxis.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday that it granted Zoox an exemption from some requirements, a first for U.S.-built vehicles under a recently expanded program.

“Transportation innovators can be confident in getting speedy review of their vehicles and, as appropriate, exemption from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said in a release.

The company must remove all existing statements that its purpose-built vehicles meet all federal motor vehicle safety standards.

As part of the announcement, NHTSA said it’s closing a probe opened in March 2023 into Zoox’s self-certification that its robotaxi met federal safety standards.

“Through this new exemption process, we are excited to embark on this new path, put these discussions behind us, and move forward,” Zoox said in a statement.

The Department of Transportation in April announced it would expand a program that aims to speed up the autonomous vehicle exemption process to include domestically produced vehicles. Previously, it was limited to imported AVs.