By Simon Montlake, Forbes Staff
Corp has the U.S. Congress to thank for its higher international profile in 2012 as lawmakers turned up the heat on Chinese suppliers of telecoms equipment, alleging security risks. Separate revelations of Chinese-originating cyber-hacking have only added to suspicions on both sides. But Hong Kong-listed ZTE‘s troubles run much deeper than U.S. market access. The company last month reported a $450 million full-year loss, its first since it listed in 1997. An aggressive push for overseas telecom-network contracts led to losses while increased shipments of cheap handsets didn’t translate into higher margins. To add to its frustrations, ZTE‘s Shenzhen-based competitor Huawei Technologies notched up another bumper year. “I have to admit there’s a problem with our management strategy,” says chairman Hou Weigui, the company’s founder. “We didn’t adapt correctly to the (business) environment.”