
When SpaceX starts trading this week, one group will be noticeably absent from the frenzy: investors from China and Hong Kong. They are also likely to miss out on the upcoming initial public offering for OpenAI.
当SpaceX于本周开始上市交易时,狂热的人群中将明显缺少一个群体:来自中国大陆和香港的投资者。他们很可能也会错过OpenAI即将进行的首次公开募股。
SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket maker and artificial intelligence company, has excluded investors in China and Hong Kong from participating in its I.P.O., according to five people with knowledge of the decision, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
据五位知情人士透露,埃隆·马斯克旗下的火箭制造及人工智能公司SpaceX已将中国大陆和香港的投资者排除在其首次公开募股的参与范围之外。由于未获授权公开表态,这些人士要求不具名。
OpenAI, another leading A.I. company, is likely to impose the same restriction when it goes public this year, said three people with knowledge of the discussion. The company has already barred Chinese investors from participating in private fund-raising rounds, one of those people said.
三位了解相关讨论的人士表示,另一家领先的人工智能公司OpenAI在今年上市时,也很可能会施加同样的限制。其中一人透露,该公司此前已经禁止了中国投资者参与其私募轮。
The A.I. companies have not disclosed why they are hesitant to accept investments from the region, and it’s unclear whether the move is being made with input from the Trump administration. But Washington has been focused on keeping artificial intelligence out of China’s reach. Both companies count the U.S. government as major clients.
这些人工智能公司尚未披露它们为何不愿接受来自该地区的投资,目前也不清楚这一举动是否受到特朗普政府的影响。但华盛顿方面一直致力于让中国无法获取人工智能技术。这两家公司都将美国政府视为其主要客户。
While Chinese investors have largely been shut out of private investments in sensitive sectors for years, this is most likely the first time investors in mainland China and Hong Kong have been excluded from a major American I.P.O., bankers in the region say.
该地区的银行家们表示,尽管多年来中国投资者在敏感领域的私募投资基本上已被隔绝,但这很可能是中国大陆和香港的投资者首次被排除在大型美国公司的首次公开募股之外。
It highlights how the United States and China have steadily scaled back trade, investment and collaboration — especially in sensitive sectors involving technology and science.
这凸显了美国和中国是如何在稳步缩减贸易、投资与合作的——尤其是在涉及技术和科学的敏感领域。
埃隆·马斯克今年5月在北京。SpaceX尚未说明其为何不愿接受来自中国和香港的投资。
“The restrictions reflect a broader trend among American technology and A.I. companies, many of which have become increasingly reluctant to accept Chinese investment, driven by concerns over national security, intellectual property protection and data governance,” said Han Lin, a director for the Asia Group, a consulting firm, and a former senior Wells Fargo banker in China.
咨询机构亚洲集团主管、前富国银行驻华高级银行家林汉昇表示:“这些限制反映了美国技术和人工智能公司之间的一个整体趋势,出于对国家安全、知识产权保护和数据治理的担忧,许多公司越来越不愿意接受中国的投资。”
News that SpaceX would bar Chinese investors from its I.P.O. was reported earlier by Bloomberg.
有关SpaceX将禁止中国投资者参与其首次公开募股的消息此前已由彭博社报道。
As recently as last month, investors from mainland China and Hong Kong were allowed to participate in the blockbuster I.P.O. of Cerebras, an American maker of chips used to train artificial intelligence models.
就在上个月,来自中国大陆和香港的投资者还被允许参与Cerebras大获成功的首次公开募股,这是一家制造人工智能模型训练芯片的美国公司。
But Washington and Beijing have been rapidly erecting barriers to trade and investment, complicating matters for investors and the banks that help facilitate cross-border deals.
但华盛顿和北京方面一直在迅速筑起贸易和投资壁垒,使投资者以及协助促进跨境交易的银行面临更加复杂化的局面。
Last week, China tightened restrictions on the flow of money out of the country and announced plans to screen companies seeking to expand overseas, blocking plans for companies deemed strategically important.
上周,中国收紧了对资金外流的限制,并宣布计划对寻求向海外扩张的公司进行审查,从而阻断了被认为具有战略重要性的公司的计划。
Several weeks earlier, the House Select Committee on China accused JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley of failing to conduct adequate due diligence when helping Chinese companies go public.
就在几周前,众议院中国问题特设委员会指责摩根大通、美国银行和摩根士丹利在协助中国公司上市时未能进行充分的尽职调查。
Staying on the right side of the U.S. government is especially important for SpaceX and OpenAI. It is SpaceX’s biggest customer, accounting for roughly $4 billion in revenue last year. This year, OpenAI announced that it would provide artificial intelligence technologies for the Defense Department’s classified systems.
与美国政府保持良好的关系对SpaceX和OpenAI来说尤为重要。美国政府是SpaceX最大的客户,去年为其带来了约40亿美元的收入。今年,OpenAI宣布它将为国防部的机密系统提供人工智能技术。
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has used industrial policy to strengthen his country’s control over critical supply chains and industries, part of a broader push for self-reliance that Beijing views as a national security imperative. The policies have strengthened China’s dominance in global trade and heightened tensions with the United States.
中国最高领导人习近平利用产业政策强化了本国对关键供应链和行业的控制,这是北京视为国家安全要务的自给自足总体努力的一部分。这些政策巩固了中国在全球贸易中的主导地位,并加剧了与美国的紧张关系。
Cerebras上个月在纳斯达克上市。中国投资者被允许参与其火爆的IPO。
During his first term, President Trump used tariffs and other measures to pressure companies to move manufacturing out of China. The Biden administration expanded those efforts, restricting U.S. investment in Chinese quantum computing, semiconductors and A.I. in an effort to slow China’s technological advances.
在其第一任期内,特朗普总统曾利用关税等措施施压企业将制造业迁出中国。拜登政府扩大了这些努力,限制美国在华投资量子计算、半导体和人工智能,以此试图减缓中国的技术进步。
Washington also reviews foreign investments and acquisitions in sensitive sectors through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Pentagon maintains a blacklist of companies that it says support China’s military, including major technology companies such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, as well as the electric vehicle maker BYD.
华盛顿还通过美国外资投资委员会审查敏感领域的外国投资和收购。五角大楼维持着一份据称支持中国军方的企业黑名单,其中包括腾讯、阿里巴巴和百度等大型科技公司,以及电动汽车制造商比亚迪。
China has responded by building its own web of export controls and investment restrictions, measures that American and European companies say have made it increasingly difficult to do business in China.
中国对此做出的回应是建立了自己的出口管制和投资限制网络,美国和欧洲企业表示,这些措施使得在华开展业务变得越来越困难。
But any moves by SpaceX and OpenAI appear to be voluntary, said Aaron Bartnick, who was a White House tech policy official during the Biden administration.
但曾在拜登政府担任白宫技术政策官员的亚伦·巴特尼克表示,SpaceX和OpenAI的任何举动似乎都属于自愿行为。
“This is a very clear sign of not just the trade decoupling but also the technology and capital decoupling that is occurring between the U.S. and China,” he said.
“这不仅是贸易脱钩的明确信号,也是美中之间正在发生的技术和资本脱钩的明确信号,”他说。
Mr. Bartnick, who oversaw policy on CFIUS and outbound investment controls, said the decisions by leading technology companies could become a template for the industry. He said he would not be surprised if others followed suit, including Anthropic, which announced its plans to go public last week.
负责监管外资投资委员会政策及对外投资管制的巴特尼克表示,领先科技公司的决策可能会成为该行业的模板。他表示,如果其他公司纷纷效仿,包括上周宣布计划上市的Anthropic,他不会感到惊讶。
“It is tempting to label this an overreaction because it appears to be voluntary,” Mr. Bartnick said. “But a lot of American companies will look to companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX as leaders.”
“人们很容易会觉得这是反应过度,因为这看起来是出于自愿的,”巴特尼克说。“但许多美国公司会把OpenAI、Anthropic和SpaceX这样的公司视为领导者。”