Two World's Largest Security Camera Companies Added to the US Sanctions List

Nikkei, Bloomberg, IPVM: China's largest security camera makers and face recognition AI companies have been added to the US trade sanctions list.

Hikvision is the world's largest security camera company. Hikvision has a close cooperation with Sony. The rumor is that Sony makes special image sensor versions optimized to Hikvision requirements that are exclusive to the company. From the company's web site:

"According to yearly independent research data from IHS Markit, Hikvision accounted for 19.5% of market share in global video surveillance industry in 2015, up from 4.6% in 2010, and has been ranked the No.1 market share leader globally for video surveillance equipment for five consecutive years. In 2015, Hikvision was ranked first in EMEA market with 12.2% market share, and was ranked second in Americas market with 7.3% market share.

Hikvision has established partnerships with world technology leaders including Intel, Texas Instruments, Ambarella, Sony, Hisilicon, Western Digital and Seagate."

From Dahua web site: "Dahua Technology has been ranked 2nd in the global CCTV & video surveillance equipment market according to an IHS report since 2014, and was ranked 2nd in “2018 a&s Security 50”."

According to the recent IDC report, "China's video surveillance market is relatively concentrated, with the top three vendors (Hikvision, Dahua and Uniview) having a combined market share of 56.4%. The concentrated market enhances top vendors' economies of scale effects."

Alibaba-backed Megvii filed for an IPO this summer of at least $500m in Hong Kong, while SenseTime raised $620m in a second round of funding in just two months last year and is one of the world's most valuable unicorns in artificial intelligence.