Hikvision reportedly laying off 1K staff in China amid effects of sanctions

Chinese surveillance equipment manufacturer and facial recognition provider Hikvision is said to be facing economic knocks from U.S.-imposed sanctions which are forcing the company to cut down its work force.

The company is planning to lay off about a thousand staff in China, according to a report by South China Morning Post (SCMP), referencing a local media outlet.

The move by Hikvision reportedly comes in the wake of acute challenges faced in its domestic and overseas markets as the firm struggles with a ban imposed by the U.S. government.

Hikvision has however denied any huge job cut claims, but admits that it is making some internal adjustments aimed at refocusing the operations of its research and development department.

The U.S. government has bones to pick with Hikvision over accusations that the company supports the Chinese government’s oppression of the Uyghur Muslim minority group in the Xinjiang region of China by supplying biometric technology.

As such, in 2019, the Trump Administration blacklisted the company by adding it to the U.S. Entity List, which meant U.S. companies could not sell components to it without express authorization by Washington.

The sanctions were taken a notch higher in 2022 when the U.S. government prohibited Hikvision and a number of other Chinese firms such as Huawei and Dahua from selling their technology in the United States.

Since then, it is reported that Hikvision has faced issues including a fall in revenue growth and its share price which have affected its operational capacity like maintaining its current staff base which was over 58,000 by the end of 2023, per its annual report. Hikvision’s revenue rose by 28 percent in 2021, but 2.1 percent in 2022 and 7.4 percent in 2023. The company’s stock traded at 67.40 Chinese yuan at its peak in July, 2021, but closed at CNY29.31 on Tuesday.

Restrictions on Hikvision’s technology have not come only from the U.S. government. Similar moves have been seen from the governments of the UK, Australia and New Zealand, prohibiting or restricting the deployment of Hikvision cameras. There have been renewed calls for a ban on Hikvision in the UK.

Security and surveillance industry research group, IPVM, has also been vocal about the use of Hikvision’s technology for alleged human rights abuses in China, but the company has often accused IPVM of unfairly targeting it for ulterior motives.

Recently, Hikvision India announced the availability of a new range of MinMoe facial recognition terminals in two variants, as reported by Business News This Week. The devices that have battery support come with several technical specifications which make them easy to manage and functional in any operational environment.

Meanwhile, the company has also announced its participation at the ongoing GITEX Global 2024 event where it is exhibiting some of its latest AIoT technology. General Manager Tate Wu says the event is “another groundbreaking showcase for Hikvision.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  China  |  ethics  |  facial recognition  |  HIKVISION  |  video surveillance