{{Short description|Four biggest tech firms in China}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} '''BATX''' is an acronym standing for Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi, the four biggest<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ns-businesshub.com/technology/biggest-chinese-tech-companies/|title=Biggest Chinese tech companies: From Alibaba and Huawei to Tencent|date=2019-02-04|website=NS Business|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-15|archive-date=15 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015002225/https://www.ns-businesshub.com/technology/biggest-chinese-tech-companies/|url-status=dead}}</ref> tech firms in China, often compared to ''Big Tech'' (Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta)<ref name="Chen">{{Cite web|url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/batx-stocks.asp|title=BATX Stocks|last=Chen|first=James|website=Investopedia|language=en|access-date=2019-10-17}}</ref> in the United States. BATX were some of the first tech companies started in the 2000s during the rise of the Chinese technology revolution and quickly became widely used in China. Notably after 2015, some other tech companies like Huawei, DiDi, JD, DJI and ByteDance have also become some of the up-and-coming biggest tech giants in the industry.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46480208|title=Why Huawei matters in five charts|last1=Hooker|first1=Lucy|date=2019-05-20|access-date=2019-10-15|last2=Palumbo|first2=Daniele|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinawhisper.com/top-7-chinese-tech-companies/|title=Top 7 Chinese Tech Companies|last=|first=|date=20 January 2017|website=www.chinawhisper.com|access-date=2019-10-23}}</ref>
== List == {| class="wikitable" |+ !Name !Revenue by 2018 !Employees !Headquarter !Since !CEO |- |'''Baidu''' |$14,874 {{abbr|mm|million}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://ir.baidu.com/financial-reports|title=Financial Reports|website=Baidu Inc|language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |42,267<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/253173/number-of-employees-at-baidu/|title=China: Baidu employees 2018|website=Statista|language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |Beijing, China<ref name=":0" /> |2000<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ir.baidu.com/company-overview|title=Company Overview|website=Baidu Inc|language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |Robin Yanhong Li<ref name=":0" /> |- |'''Alibaba''' |$38,898 mm<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alibabagroup.com/en/ir/secfilings|title=Alibaba Group|website=www.alibabagroup.com|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |101,958<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/226794/number-of-employees-at-alibabacom/|title=Alibaba: number of employees 2019|website=Statista|language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |Hangzhou, China<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alibabagroup.com/en/contact/offices|title=Alibaba Group|website=www.alibabagroup.com|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |1999<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.alibabagroup.com/en/about/history|title=Alibaba Group|website=www.alibabagroup.com|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |Jack Ma<ref name=":1" /> |- |'''Tencent''' |$312,694 mm<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tencent.com/en-us/articles/13007161553157789.pdf |title=Tencent |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710195020/http://www.tencent.com/en-us/articles/13007161553157789.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> |54,309<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/223719/number-of-tencent-group-employees/|title=Tencent: number of employees 2018|website=Statista|language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |Shenzhen, China<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tencent.com/en-us/abouttencent.html|title=Tencent 腾讯 - Home|website=www.tencent.com|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |1998<ref name=":2" /> |Ma Huateng<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/ma-huateng/|title=Ma Huateng|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> |- |'''Xiaomi''' |$44,421 mm<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://i01.appmifile.com/webfile/globalweb/company/ir/announcement_us/ANNUAL_RESULTS_2018.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2019-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414122440/https://i01.appmifile.com/webfile/globalweb/company/ir/announcement_us/ANNUAL_RESULTS_2018.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |14,513<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.xiaomitoday.com/xiaomis-employees/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016122120/https://www.xiaomitoday.com/xiaomis-employees/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 16, 2019|title=Do You Know How Many Employees Has Xiaomi?|date=2018-05-22|website=XiaomiToday|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> |Beijing, China<ref name=":3">Xiaomi Company Profile. https://craft.co/xiaomi</ref> |2010<ref name=":3" /> |Lei Jun<ref name=":3" /> |}
== History == In 2000, under Chairman Jiang Zemin's instruction, China started the Golden Shield Project to manage the media and information flow within China, in an attempt to protect national security and limit the infiltration of Western propaganda.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://index.html/|title=» The Great Firewall of China: Background Torfox|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505195009/http://index.html/|archive-date=2008-05-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> Under the Golden Shield Project, many American tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Netflix, and the like were denied access into China from the Great Firewall due to their refusal to follow local data laws, while others, such as Microsoft and LinkedIn, were allowed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@chewweichun/how-it-works-great-firewall-of-china-c0ef16454475|title=How It Works: Great Firewall of China|last=Chew|first=Wei Chun|date=2019-01-12|website=Medium|language=en|access-date=2019-10-17}}</ref> At the same time, the population of Chinese netizens grew substantially since the introduction of internet in 1994.<ref name=":4" /> By 2018, China contains a population of 800 million netizens, 98% of whom are mobile users.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/08/23/china-now-boasts-more-than-800-million-internet-users-and-98-of-them-are-mobile-infographic/|title=China Now Boasts More Than 800 Million Internet Users And 98% Of Them Are Mobile [Infographic]|last=McCarthy|first=Niall|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-10-17}}</ref> Many Chinese tech companies flourished under this system, without competition from foreign businesses. BATX are a few of the earliest tech companies who saw the chance and began to occupy the internet market in the early ages of China's internet transformation.<ref name="Chen"/>
== Influences == === Baidu === thumb|Baidu logo|175x175px Baidu Search is the most popular search engine in China. Baidu is often contrasted with Google, which is the biggest search engine company founded in United States.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/top-search-engines|title=The Top 7 Search Engines, Ranked by Popularity|last=Forsey|first=Caroline|website=blog.hubspot.com|language=en-us|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> Google is banned in China. So Baidu provides an equivalent search experience for China's netizens.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/051215/baidu-vs-google-how-are-they-different.asp|title=Baidu vs. Google: What's the Difference?|last=Seth|first=Shobhit|website=Investopedia|language=en|access-date=2019-10-17}}</ref> Other than Baidu Search, Baidu also provides many different other products, such as Baidu Maps, Baidu Cloud, Baidu Tieba, Baidu Knows, and more, catered to different needs for Chinese netizens. Baidu accounts for 64.55% of the search engine market share in China,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marketmechina.com/baidu-search-engine-market-share-in-china-may-2019/|title=Baidu search engine market share in China May 2019|date=2019-06-10|website=Market Me China®|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> and also is the third biggest search engine website in the world.<ref name=":5" />
=== Alibaba === thumb|Alibaba Group logo The Alibaba Group was first started as an e-commerce company in 1999 in Hangzhou<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-10 |title=Alibaba opens new global headquarters in China on annual family day |url=https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3262246/alibaba-opens-new-global-headquarters-hangzhou-china-annual-family-day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260209005903/https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3262246/alibaba-opens-new-global-headquarters-hangzhou-china-annual-family-day |archive-date=February 9, 2026 |access-date=2026-04-01 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref>, China. Since then, it has become a giant tech corporation, including branches like e-commerce, entertainment, online payment, cloud-computing, and AI technology. Its most famous C2C products are Taobao and Alipay, which are closely incorporated into every Chinese online shopping experience. In 2017, Taobao.com was the third most visited website in China after Baidu.com and QQ.<nowiki/>com.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://daxueconsulting.com/success-of-taobao-on-chinese-internet/|title=The Success of Taobao on the Chinese Internet - Daxue Consulting|website=daxueconsulting.com|date=28 July 2017|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> Taobao accounted for 58.2% of the e-commerce market share in China by 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/chart/14717/alibaba-continues-to-lead-retail-e-commerce-sales-in-china-in-2018/|title=Infographic: Alibaba continues to lead retail e-commerce sales in China in 2018|website=Statista Infographics|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> In 2024, Alibaba Group integrated its domestic Chinese and international e-commerce platforms into a single business unit run by one leader for the first time. The Alibaba E-commerce Business Group was the new name of the unit and brought together Taobao and Tmall Group, as well as Alibaba International Digital Commerce (AIDC) Group. AIDC included AliExpress and Alibaba.com that operated in different regions including Southeast Asia and Turkey. Jiang Fan was named as the new international unit head. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Alibaba combines e-commerce arms to tackle growing competition |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/alibaba-integrate-e-commerce-platforms-into-one-business-group-2024-11-21/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260102025651/https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/alibaba-integrate-e-commerce-platforms-into-one-business-group-2024-11-21/ |archive-date=January 2, 2026 |website=Retuers}}</ref> In December of 2024, Alibaba also recorded double-digit growth in public cloud services, especially for all AI related product revenue. It achieved triple-digit growth for the fifth consecutive year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alibaba Cloud’s successful Cloud+AI strategy |url=https://www.crnasia.com/news/2024/cloud/alibaba-cloud-is-expected-to-most-likely-continue-with-its-c |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250916083304/https://www.crnasia.com/news/2024/cloud/alibaba-cloud-is-expected-to-most-likely-continue-with-its-c |archive-date=September 16, 2025 |website=crnasia}}</ref> Alibaba saw an uptick in its stock in 2025 when there was news that the company would work to make advancements in cloud technology and artificial intelligence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why Analysts See Alibaba’s Growth Story Changing With Cloud and AI Driving New Optimism |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-analysts-see-alibaba-growth-100528304.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGVycGxleGl0eS5haS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAd0cN-M0wknHLPMIMJBDJvPKXJuUoeC5H_0OeZaopa_-4GNBrjI-akb4_cQ8k4QxOS9aISRZBJk5Il4mRluWQPno_serE8op8j_-j6EQsSuZkj_feVM3HjZYsQJC3tYmGuae_-LOcw76HlUaFsdqnoPFfmRIdihrHoh63kjO_ym |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260522155512/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-analysts-see-alibaba-growth-100528304.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGVycGxleGl0eS5haS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAd0cN-M0wknHLPMIMJBDJvPKXJuUoeC5H_0OeZaopa_-4GNBrjI-akb4_cQ8k4QxOS9aISRZBJk5Il4mRluWQPno_serE8op8j_-j6EQsSuZkj_feVM3HjZYsQJC3tYmGuae_-LOcw76HlUaFsdqnoPFfmRIdihrHoh63kjO_ym |archive-date=May 22, 2026}}</ref> In 2026, Alibaba announced it was shifting from AI investment to full-scale commercialization, making AI its next major growth engine. Alibaba forecasted that 30 billion yuan in AI revenue would be generated in 2026 with AI agents, which they predicted would be the majority of Alibaba's cloud sales. Some of the company's AI-related products were already delivering triple-digit growth, showing AI was starting to lift the main business. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-05-21 |title=Alibaba signals next phase of AI growth from investment to commercialisation |url=https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3354324/alibaba-signals-next-phase-ai-growth-investment-commercialisation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260522160141/https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3354324/alibaba-signals-next-phase-ai-growth-investment-commercialisation |archive-date=May 22, 2026 |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref>
=== Tencent === thumb|Tencent logo Tencent was first started by Ma Huateng as a social network platform. Most Chinese netizens came to know Tencent through its messaging platform QQ. Now, Tencent has developed many more areas of business, including social platform, entertainment, e-commerce, online payment, information services, and artificial intelligence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tencent.com/en-us/system.html|title=Tencent 腾讯 - Products & Services|website=www.tencent.com|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> WeChat, one of the most famous messaging apps from Tencent, had 169.6 million active monthly users in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/1688754/charted-wechats-astronomical-growth-abroad/|title=Charted: WeChat's astronomical growth abroad|last=Huang|first=Echo|website=Quartz|date=19 August 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> WeChat is the third most commonly used messaging app worldwide in 2018, after WhatsApp and Messenger.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/the-top-7-messenger-apps-in-world.html|title=The Top 7 Messenger Apps in the World|last=Kim|first=Larry|date=2018-09-20|website=Inc.com|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> Tencent Entertainment is also the No.1 in the online gaming industry in the world by 2018, followed directly by Sony.
=== Xiaomi === thumb|105x105px|Xiaomi logo Xiaomi, in contrast to the other three, focuses more on hardware technology like smartphones, home automation, smart TVs and other smart devices. Two thirds of Xiaomi's profit is generated by smartphone sales.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=https://www.investopedia.com/news/how-xiaomi-makes-money/|title=How Xiaomi Makes Money: Selling Smartphones and Connected Devices|last=Delventhal|first=Shoshanna|website=Investopedia|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> Xiaomi became the biggest smart phone maker in China in 2014 before plummeting down to fifth place in 2016.<ref name=":6" />
== Other tech companies in China == Although BATX has been a very popular acronym for people when referring to the biggest Chinese tech firms, there are also many other tech firms has picked up after 2010 and also became the leaders in their respective fields. On Forbes' 2019 Global 2000, 20 out of 184 tech companies on the list are from China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2019/05/15/worlds-largest-tech-companies-2019/|title=The Largest Technology Companies In 2019: Apple Reigns As Smartphones Slip And Cloud Services Thrive|last=Ponciano|first=Jonathan|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref>
=== Huawei === thumb|169x169px|Huawei logo Huawei became one of the most well known Chinese tech companies in the world by the 2010s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2186494/how-huawei-went-small-time-trader-shenzhen-worlds-biggest-telecoms|title=How Huawei became the world's No 1 telecoms gear supplier|date=2019-02-18|website=South China Morning Post|language=en|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> Founded by Ren Zhengfei at 1987<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://successstory.com/companies/huawei-technologies-co-ltd|title=Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. SuccessStory|last=|first=|date=|website=successstory.com|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> at Shenzhen China, it focuses on information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei|title=About Huawei|website=huawei|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> Huawei became the No.1 at Telecommunication network in the world by 2012 and launched its first 5G smartphone, Mate 20 X 5G in July 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691453/huawei-mate-x-5g-release-date-china-italy-uae-android|title=Huawei's first 5G phone is launching this month|last=Porter|first=Jon|date=2019-07-12|website=The Verge|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> In 2018, Huawei generated revenue of 721,202 mm RMB of revenue, which is approximately 101,910.32 mm dollars.
=== DiDi === thumb|174x174px|DIDI logo DiDi Chuxing is the most popular taxi hailing service app in China. In 2018, there were over 30 million rides being used on DiDi each day.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/didi-chuxing-facts-statistics/|title=25 Amazing DIDI facts and statistics|last=|first=|date=2019-09-09|website=expandedramblings|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref> DiDi is available in more than 400 cities in China and has over 550 million users.<ref name=":7" /> DiDi accounted for 71.4% of the taxi hailing service share in China in 2018.<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinese-ride-sharing-market-2017-2018--2025-major-players-are-didi-dida-aa-pinche-laihui-and-tiantian-300661068.html|title=Chinese Ride Sharing Market 2017-2018 & 2025: Major Players are Didi, Dida, AA Pinche, Laihui, and Tiantian|last=Markets|first=Research and|website=www.prnewswire.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-22}}</ref>
=== DJI === thumb|151x151px|DJI logo DJI is a private Shenzhen-based technology firm which is the leading consumer and industrial unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) manufacturer today, holding a 76% market share worldwide as of August 2021. Their products are sold worldwide and include the Phantom and Mavic camera drone series, the Osmo camera and gimbal series, the DJI FPV series of first person racing drones, the Ronin series of camera gimbals, as well as the RoboMaster series of educational robots.<ref>{{Cite web|title=DJI Drones and Handheld Products - DJI|url=https://www.dji.com/products|access-date=2021-11-05|website=DJI Official|language=en}}</ref>
==See also== *Big Tech
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Technology companies of China Category:Anti-corporate activism