Source | China Securities News (ID:xhszzb)
Text | Zhang Xingwang
After repeatedly sanctioning Huawei, the United States has targeted China's 100 billion technology company, DJI.
On March 12, it was reported that the US design software company Figma banned the accounts of companies such as DJI that were sanctioned by the United States. In this regard, DJI has not responded. On the evening of March 12, a reporter from China Securities News and China Securities Taurus confirmed the news of Figma's ban on the company's account from DJI employees.
Design software was suddenly banned
Founded in 2012, Figma is a web-based interface design collaboration tool that can keep projects in the cloud at all times, so that multiple users can comment or modify the design in real time. It has three notable features: real-time collaboration, vector mesh, and version history. Best of all, this tool is very handy and can handle more than 20 artboards simultaneously in one document.
The research report also said that Figma is a full platform software, as long as the user can open the web page, theoretically can use this tool, it does not need to occupy local memory to store files, and even share the design in the form of a link to everyone. As of the end of July 2021, Figma was valued at $10 billion through Series E financing.
Industry insiders said that many companies such as DJI use Figma software, which is equivalent to the "paintbrush" of corporate design.
On March 12, there was a sudden news that DJI received an email from the design software company Figma, in which the design software company Figma said: "Hello, we understand that DJI was named in the sanctions list released, so Figma can no longer provide you with access to our software, we have begun to freeze your account, you will no longer be able to access your style through Figma, However, we will provide you with your documents by email or other means within the next two weeks. ”
▲Source: Blue Lagoon collaboration platform WeChat public account
In this regard, DJI has not responded. On the evening of March 12, a reporter from China Securities News and China Securities Taurus confirmed the news of Figma's ban on the company's account from DJI employees.
The drone share is the first in the world
The U.S. military uses it heavily
There are two companies in Shenzhen that are leading the world in the field of consumer electronics, and are often compared, one is Huawei, and the other is DJI. Both companies have grown up in the private houses in Shenzhen, and through technological innovation, they have gone global with hard technology products.
Founded in 2006, DJI has little financing and is not listed, and has the reputation of "China's Apple". According to the research report of China Merchants Securities, today, DJI's overseas sales of UAVs account for more than 80%, and consumer-grade UAVs account for more than 70% of the global market. According to the "Global Unicorn 500 Development Report (2021)", DJI drones rank 28th in the world with a valuation of $23.714 billion.
Wang Tao, the founder of DJI, once said that the entrepreneur he most admired was Ren Zhengfei. Because Ren Zhengfei started as a salesman, turned Huawei into a very powerful company, and also managed the team very well, his methodology and values are not for money.
▲At the DJI headquarters of Shenzhen Science and Technology Park, Wang Tao (center) participated in the discussion of R&D personnel. Source: Xinhua News Agency
At present, DJI has become a leading global brand in many fields such as unmanned aerial vehicles, handheld imaging systems, robot education, and intelligent driving. However, in December 2020, DJI was added to the Entity List by the U.S. Department of Commerce. In the face of unreasonable U.S. sanctions, DJI responded at the time that DJI was disappointed with the decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and U.S. customers could continue to purchase and use DJI's products normally.
As early as 2017, Xinhua reported that pictures of the US Department of Defense confirmed the use of DJI drones by the US military in daily training. In May of that year, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory issued a secret report titled "DJI's Technological Threats and Weaknesses in Use," and in the same month, the U.S. Navy also issued a memorandum titled "Operational Risks of Using DJI's Products."
Xinhua News Agency, the US military uses DJI drones in daily training. Source: U.S. Department of Defense
The U.S. Army said in the memorandum that although DJI drones are the most used civilian-grade drones by the U.S. Army, they should be discontinued because of their risks. U.S. media speculate that given that drones can capture many high-definition videos of classified military operations or military bases and store them inside mobile phones or drones themselves, the U.S. military may be worried that others can steal videos containing sensitive content from drones if they use devices with the same frequency as drones.
In practice, DJI said, it has no cooperation with the military establishments of any country. Whether the U.S. military or the military department of any country obtains DJI's terminal products, it is purchased through open market channels, rather than direct contact with DJI.
Domestic software is quick to sound: I will come to the top
In the face of the above emergencies, some domestic software design companies urgently voiced: they can help enterprises replace Figma.
On the evening of March 12, the Blue Lagoon Collaboration Platform said that Blue Lagoon's MasterGo has officially launched the Figma file import function and improved the support for editing after the import to help everyone survive this event.
According to Tianyan, Blue Lake belongs to Beijing Micro Zhiguang Information Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2019 with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. According to Blue Lagoon's data, the platform's customers include Huawei, Tencent, OPPO, Today's Toutiao, SF, Ideal Auto and many other well-known enterprises.
JsDesign issued an announcement that the "Figma suspends all company accounts on the US sanctions list" that was spread on the Internet on March 12 has been verified by the company. The incident has affected some domestic Internet companies and designers, and has affected the security of their design assets, the company is deeply worried about this and decided to respond quickly. All enterprises and designers can not only import files through the instant design official website, but also can contact "instant design" for batch migration by adding the following enterprise WeChat, which will fully assist everyone in migrating and backing up Figma files and help everyone protect their design assets.
Instant design JsDesign belongs to Beijing Xueyun Ruichuang Technology Co., Ltd., Tianyancha shows that the company was established in 2016 with a registered capital of 212,500 yuan.
▲Source: Weibo
According to the research report of Guosheng Securities, the subsidiary of the A-share company Wondershare Technology launched Pixso, a multi-person collaborative design tool based on cloud operation, which features benchmarking overseas Figma. According to the official micro-information of Wondershare Technology, Pixso was incubated and led by Wondershare Technology and operated by an independent company, Shenzhen Boss Yunchuang Technology Co., Ltd. According to Tianyan, Boss Yunchuang was established in October 2021 with a registered capital of 18 million yuan, and the proportion of benefit shares of Wondershare Technology in Boss Yunchuang was 23.16667%.
People of insight have long recognized the importance of industrial software and have been drumming and shouting for it. Ni Guangnan, a Chinese computer expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, expressed his views on industrial software, saying that our Internet companies are very powerful in the world, but many industrial software is blank. The shortcomings of industrial software must be quickly filled, or we are "stuck in the neck" of a very weak link.
▲ Ni Guangnan was interviewed. Source: Xinhua News Agency