Once a largely toothless watchdog, China’s anti-monopoly bureau was upgraded and let loose this year, bringing discipline to the corporate behaviour of tech giants that had been tolerated, if not encouraged, for years.
China’s tech giants fell in line with new national priorities that emphasised hard technologies and common prosperity, making it harder for companies to profit from the free-wheeling business practices that they once thrived on.
The change of mood in China’s tech industry due to a barrage of regulatory change is tangible and sudden after a decade of exceptional growth.
The tumultuous year in China technology has not only wiped out billions of dollars in value, it also upended how some of the most promising start-ups are appraised, where assumptions of unfettered and symbiotic growth can no longer be taken for granted.
