Hikvision

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd., often shortened to Hikvision, is a Chinese, state-owned, manufacturer and supplier of video surveillance equipment for civilian and military purposes, headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Its controlling shares are owned by the Chinese government. Due to its involvement in alleged human rights violation and national security concerns, the company has been placed under sanctions from the U.S. government and is prevented from receiving U.S. government contracts.
History.
Hikvision was founded in 2001 by Zhejiang HIK Information Technology Co., Ltd. () with the company having a 51% stake and Gong Hongjia () a 13.4% stake. Hikvision is an IoT solution provider with video surveillance market as its core competency. It devotes 8% of its annual revenue to research and development with 40,403 employees.
Hikvision has been listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since 2010. The company provides surveillance products to the global market via more than "2,400 partners in 155 countries and regions", and has its presence in 18 locations around the world.
In October 2016, the company concluded a deal to use Movidius' computer vision technology. In May 2017, Hikvision established Hikstorage, a subsidiary focused on the production of storage devices.
Involvement in Xinjiang re-education camps.
In January 2019, the U.S. government began considering whether it should sanction Hikvision, which "The Nation" described as having "provided thousands of cameras that monitor mosques, schools, and concentration camps in Xinjiang."
The U.S. government banned Hikvision from receiving government contracts in August 2019 due to security concerns. In October 2019, Hikvision was formally placed on the Entity List by the U.S. government for its role in surveillance of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and of other ethnic and religious minorities in China.
In response to the bans and sanctions, Hikvision hired former U.S. ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper "to advise the company regarding human rights compliance" and former U.S. senator David Vitter as a lobbyist.
In April 2021, the European Parliament confirmed that it had removed Hikvision thermal cameras from its premises following the approval of an amendment sponsored by Dutch MEP Lara Wolters calling for the removal of "all of Hikvision’s thermal cameras from Parliament’s premises" due to "an unacceptable risk that Hikvision, through its operations in Xinjiang, is contributing to serious human rights abuses." 
U.S. investment prohibition.
In November 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting any American company or individual from owning shares in companies that the United States Department of Defense has listed as having links to the People's Liberation Army, which included Hikvision. In December 2020, Hikvision was removed from FTSE Russell.
On January 12, 2021, the Joe Biden inaugural committee returned a $500 donation to former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) after she registered as a foreign agent for Hikvision .
In March 2021, the Federal Communications Commission declared that Hikvision services and equipment "pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.”
Market.
In June 2019, Hikvision was ranked 800th in the 2019 edition of Forbes Global 2000. As of 16 November 2016, Hikvision was also a constituent of the SZSE 100 Index, a blue chip index of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, as well as the pan-China indexes CSI 300 Index, FTSE China A50 Index and Hang Seng China 50 Index.
Ownership.
 Hikvision was owned by China Electronics Technology HIK Group Co., Ltd. (HIK Group, ), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group, which has a 39.59% stake. China Electronics Technology Group is a state-run enterprise that is owned and supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. China Electronics Technology Group holds an additional 1.96% stake of Hikvision via its 52nd research institute (). The Chairman of Hikvision, Chen Zongnian (), is also the chairman and the Party Committee Secretary of HIK Group, and Head of the aforementioned research institute.
 the firm's largest individual shareholder was Vice Chairman Gong Hongjia with a 13% stake. 
As of 12 2019 Fidelity International was also a major investor in Hikvision.
In 2017, the third largest shareholder was a private equity fund () which had a 7% stake, which is associated with then Hikvision general manager Hu Yangzhong. According to previous filing, "Xinjian Weixun" was also associated with Liu Xiang (), former director (from 2015 to March 2018) and former deputy general manager of Hikvision, then deputy general manager of HIK Group, chairman of sister listed company Phenix Optical.
In 2017, the fourth largest shareholder was another private equity fund () which had a 2% stake. The fund was partly owned by Gong's wife Chen Chunmei () and aforementioned Hu Yangzhong. Hu Yangzhong also owned an additional 1.33% stake personally. To sum up, those shareholders owned a combined 65.71% stake. Lastly, Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company owned 9.77%, which was the nominees of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.
In 2021, "IPVM.com" alleged that Hikvision was created and controlled by the Chinese government.
Alleged attempts to conceal government ownership.
In 2015, "IPVM.com" criticized Hikvision for allegedly obscuring its Chinese government ownership. Jeffrey He, president of Hikvision North America, had criticized the online blogger site for allegedly seeking financial gain.
Alan West, in a 2016 interview published by "The Times" (and re-published by "The Australian"), suggested that Hikvision's ownership raised ethical and security concerns when it came to the usage of Hikvision's products by the British government.