Hikvision, China’s leading surveillance camera manufacturer, is reportedly undergoing major organizational restructuring, including significant cuts to regional R&D departments that could affect over 1,000 employees. The company is reducing its R&D regions from 32 to 12, maintaining only core areas.
According to employee reports on recruitment website Maimai, R&D departments are heavily impacted, with some regions, like Hunan, being completely eliminated, though headquarters areas like Hangzhou haven’t yet been affected. The company is offering N+2 compensation packages to laid-off employees.
Following public discussion of these layoffs, Hikvision responded by denying any large-scale layoffs, stating that this is merely a strategic adjustment to optimize R&D resources in headquarters and key sales cities.
The company’s financial performance has been declining for three consecutive years, with its H1 2023 financial report showing total revenue of 41.21 billion yuan (up 9.68% YoY), profit of 5.064 billion yuan (down 5.13% YoY), and public service sector revenue of 5.693 billion yuan (down 9.25% YoY).
The decline is primarily attributed to poor local government finances, resulting in reduced spending from public security and traffic police sectors. Senior VP Huang Fanghong acknowledged that industries dependent on local government funding are struggling, noting that both government and enterprise customers are now favoring cost-effective products over innovative, high-performance options.
Hikvision, known for its surveillance technology and crucial role in China’s “Skynet” monitoring system, has grown to become a global security industry leader over the past 20 years.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 11, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202410110414.aspx