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.
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.
A Zoox autonomous robotaxi in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon‘s Zoox issued a software recall for 270 of its robotaxis after a crash in Las Vegas last month, the company said Tuesday.
The recall surrounds a defect with the vehicle’s automated driving system that could cause it to inaccurately predict the movement of another car, increasing “the risk of a crash,” according to a report submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Zoox submitted the recall after an April 8 incident in Las Vegas where an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi collided with a passenger vehicle, the NHTSA report states. There were no injuries in the crash and only minor damage occurred to both vehicles.
“After analysis and rigorous testing, Zoox identified the root cause,” the company said in a blog post. “We issued a software update that was implemented across all Zoox vehicles. All Zoox vehicles on the road today, including our purpose-built robotaxi and test fleet, have the updated software.”
Zoox paused all driverless vehicle operations while it reviewed the incident. It’s since resumed operations after rolling out the software update.
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Amazon acquired Zoox in 2020 for over $1 billion, announcing at the time that the deal would help bring the self-driving technology company’s “vision for autonomous ride-hailing to reality.” However, Amazon has fallen far behindAlphabet‘s Waymo, which has robotaxi services operating in multiple U.S. markets. Tesla has also announced plans to launch a robotaxi offering in Austin in June, though the company has missed many prior target dates for releasing its technology.
Zoox has been testing its robotaxis in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Foster City, California. Last month, Zoox began testing a small fleet of retrofitted vehicles in Los Angeles.
Last month, NHTSA closed a probe into two crashes involving Toyota Highlanders equipped with Zoox’s autonomous vehicle technology. The agency opened the probe last May after the vehicles braked suddenly and were rear-ended by motorcyclists, which led to minor injuries.
Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp speaks during the Hill & Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025.
“Some investors may be disappointed with the modest full- year revenue guidance raise, the sequential margin decline, and the international commercial revenue year-over-year decline,” wrote William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma, adding that the company’s high software multiple makes it “vulnerable” to compression as revenue growth slows.
Despite the post-earnings move, Palantir topped revenue expectations and lifted its revenue guidance for the year. The Denver-based company posted adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share on $884 million in revenues. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected adjusted EPS of 13 cents and revenues of $863 million.
Palantir’s revenues rose 39% from $634.3 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income grew to about $214 million, or 8 cents per share, from roughly $105.5 million, or 4 cents per share, a year ago. The company also hiked its full-year revenue outlook to between $3.89 billion and $3.90 billion
CEO Alex Karp said that “Palantir is on fire” and he’s “very optimistic” about the current setup during the earnings call after the bell Monday.
“The reality of what’s going on is that this is an unvarnished cacophony — the combination of 20 years of investment and a massive cultural shift in the U.S. which is generating numbers,” he said.
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Palantir has outperformed the market this year, building on a successful 2024 run in which the stock was the best performer in the S&P 500. Many on Wall Street say the surge in shares has contributed to an elevated multiple for the company, making the bar higher and higher to clear. To be sure, the stock has undergone immense volatility amid the latest batch of market volatility spurred by President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
“While 2025 numbers move higher on guidance ahead of consensus, we question conservatism and if estimate revisions are priced in from here,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria.
Despite the company’s strong execution and fundamentals, Mizuho’s Gregg Moskowitz also said it’s “very difficult to justify” its high multiple. Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale said that Palantir needs to consolidate some of its gains to “grow into its rich valuation.”
Wall Street also highlighted a deceleration in international commercial revenues among the reasons for the potential decline in shares. The segment fell 5% year over year after rising 3% in the previous quarter due to headwinds in Europe.
Management said on an earnings call that the region is “going through a very structural change and doesn’t quite get AI.”
Travelers walk past a sign pointing toward the Uber rideshare vehicle pickup area at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on February 8, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Uber will acquire an 85% stake in Turkish food delivery platform Trendyol GO for about $700 million in cash, the company said in a securities filing.
The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of this year. Uber said it expects the transaction to be accretive to its growth once completed.
“Uber and Trendyol GO coming together will elevate the delivery sector in Türkiye for consumers, couriers, restaurants and retailers, especially small and family-owned businesses,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a release. “This deal reflects our long-term commitment to Türkiye, we’re incredibly impressed with what the Trendyol GO team has built, and we’re excited to continue that strong momentum across the country.”
Founded in 2010, Trendyol GO is run by Turkish e-commerce platform Trendyol, which is majority owned by Chinese titan Alibaba. The platform hosts roughly 90,000 restaurants and 19,000 couriers across the country.
In 2024, Trendyol GO delivery more than 200 million orders and generated $2 billion in gross bookings, a jump of 50% year over year, Uber said in the securities filing.
The announcement comes as Uber is set to report first-quarter earnings before market open on Wednesday. The rideshare and food delivery company is expected to post earnings per share of 51 cents on revenue of $11.6 billion, according to StreetAccount.