Chinese tech workers are stuck in the cold as relations with the US freeze.

Just two years ago, the rise of China’s tech sector (often termed its “new economy”) looked unstoppable. Between 2014 and 2017, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei doubled its revenue, and a whopping 34 Chinese tech startupstopped $1 billion valuations. By one forecast, the new economy was on track to create over 1 million jobs annually. 

But today, the once-prolific sector has reversed course: startups and tech giants alike have been reeling the past year. In the last quarter of 2018, WeChat owner Tencent saw net income fall by a third, and e-commerce giant JD.com lost $700 million. Alibaba forecasts that, this year, its sales will drop over 20 percent. And across publicly listed technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) companies, last year’s earnings dropped 140 percent from 2017 — a larger plunge than any other Chinese sector.

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