Microsoft’s President Says U.S.-China Divisions Risk Tech ‘Cold War’
- Software maker’s China sales are less than 2% of total revenue
- Content limits in China mean no global internet, Smith says
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Microsoft Corp. gets just 1.8% of its global sales from China, even though the country accounts for about 18% of the world’s population, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said, noting that tensions between the two largest economies risk creating a technology “cold war.”
“The Chinese market is not and has never been fully open to U.S. companies,” Smith said Wednesday at the U.S. China Series conference in Seattle. That’s not the only reason American companies have failed to deliver success in China, he said -- U.S. firms also haven’t recognized the differing tastes and needs of Chinese customers.