美國與中俄政治關係緊張傷及IT企業

Political tensions with China and Russia mean that US tech companies are facing protracted pressure in what had been two of their most promising growth markets, the chief executive of Cisco Systems has warned.

思科系統(Cisco Systems)首席執行官約翰•錢伯斯(John Chambers)警告說，美國與中國和俄羅斯的兩國的政治緊張形勢意味着，在這兩個原本最有增長潛力的市場，美國高科技企業正面臨長期壓力。

“Until our countries get along better, we’re not going to see an improvement,” John Chambers said in an interview with the FT. Mr Chambers, who is due to step down in late July after 20 years at the helm, was speaking after the US networking company reported quarterly earnings showing a return to steady growth, driven mainly by sales at home.

在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時，錢伯斯表示：“如果美國與這兩個國家之間關係不能改善，就不會看到情況有所改善。”已在思科執掌20年帥印的錢伯斯將於今年7月底卸任。就在他發表這番講話之前，這家美國網絡公司剛剛報出季度盈利重返穩定增長，而這一增長主要由思科在美國國內的銷售帶動。

A collapse in IT demand in emerging markets has been one of the biggest headwinds for Cisco and other US tech companies in the past two years, as volatile economic conditions and political rivalry have contributed to a sharp pullback in spending. While some commentators initially claimed Cisco was more exposed than others, it quickly became clear that all American IT companies faced the same pressures, Mr Chambers said.

過去兩年，對於思科及其他美國高科技企業來說，新興市場對信息技術(IT)產品需求的下滑是它們遭遇的最大不利因素。這種局面的出現，是由於經濟狀況的波動及政治上的對抗令相關開支大大減少。錢伯斯表示，雖然最初部分評論人士曾聲稱思科受到這個問題的影響最大，很快人們就發現所有美國IT企業都面臨着同樣的壓力。

The fall-off in demand coincided with a global backlash over revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about US surveillance. The disclosures, which included a photograph of US agents appearing to open a box of Cisco equipment while it was being shipped to a customer, fed fears about the existence of “back doors” and other vulnerabilities in US IT equipment and led to renewed efforts in China to promote local IT champions.

需求的減少，又趕上了美國國家安全局(NSA)前合同工愛德華•斯諾登(Edward Snowden)有關美國監控計劃的爆料在全球產生的強烈反響。這些爆料中包括了一張美國特工似乎在打開一臺正被運送給客戶的思科設備的照片，它令人們愈發擔心美國IT設備中到底留下了多少“後門”及其他漏洞，從而令中國再一次試圖推銷其國內IT領軍品牌。

On Wednesday, Cisco reported that orders for its internet routers, switches and other equipment in China fell by 20 per cent during the latest quarter, contributing to an overall decline of 6 per cent in Bric countries. Other emerging market countries saw growth of 6 per cent at the same time, it added. While Cisco’s business in India is doing well and Brazil is suffering economically, political tensions are likely to continue to weigh on the outlook in China and Russia, Mr Chambers said.

週三，思科的報告稱，上一季度該公司在華互聯網路由器、交換機及其他設備的訂單減少20%，致使思科在金磚國家的訂單總體減少了6%。該公司補充說，同一時期內其他新興市場國家則出現了6%的增長。錢伯斯表示，思科在印度的業務表現不錯，而巴西正遭遇經濟困境。而在中國和俄羅斯，政治壓力則可能會繼續影響思科的前景。

Despite the warning, Mr Chambers capped his stint as the longest-serving CEO of a big Silicon Valley company with a bullish projection, claiming that Cisco would feed its growth by taking sales from competitors in the coming years. Taking a shot at rivals like Juniper Networks, VMware and Hewlett-Packard, he predicted that the networking company would report record earnings and revenues in his last quarter at the helm at a time when “almost all of our large peers are seeing negative year-on-year numbers.”

雖然錢伯斯提出了上述警告，他還是以一種非常樂觀的預期爲自己作爲一家硅谷大型企業CEO的漫長生涯做了總結。錢伯斯聲稱，思科會在隨後幾年，通過爭奪競爭對手的銷售份額獲得增長。他還推測了瞻博網絡(Juniper Networks)、威睿(VMware)及惠普(HP)這些競爭對手的情況，並預計在他任內最後一季度，思科會在這個“幾乎所有我們的大型同行遭遇同比負增長”的時代，報出創紀錄盈利及營收。