Dahua, along with several other Chinese firms, are subject to various restrictions when selling products in the U.S. The deal’s impact and aftermath remain to be seen.
Dahua Technology is selling its North American business to a Taiwan-based company,
reports Security InfoWatch based on a letter sent by Dahua USA to their distributors and dealers that the security publication obtained. Dahua, along with several other Chinese firms, are subject to various restrictions when selling products in the U.S. The deal’s impact and aftermath remain to be seen.
In the letter, Lin Kun-Huang, Director of Dahua Technology USA, said Dahua is making a 100 percent ownership change to ensure an unwavering commitment to their customers and secure a foundation for long-term growth in the North American market. According to the letter, Dahua is selling Dahua Technology USA to a “reputable” Taiwan-based manufacturer, which is identified as Luminys.
Who is Luminys
Luminys’ website is currently under “maintenance.” According to the company’s LinkedIn page, the company is the developer of the Academy Award-winning Lightning Strikes and SoftSun lighting systems for motion picture and television production, live events, entertainment venues, high-speed testing applications, and other industrial and professional uses. Luminys also introduces itself on the page as a subsidiary of CMPC, USA, which is most likely the US business of Taiwan’s Central Motion Picture Corp.
Luminys is also closely associated with Taiwan-based Foxlink. In Foxlink’s 2021 financial report, Luminys is listed as a company that Foxlink Chairman, Gou Tai-chiang, also doubles as the chairman of. It should be pointed out that Gou doubles as the chairman of a lot of companies, including Central Motion Picture Corp.
As for Foxlink itself, it “design, manufactures and sells connectors, cable assemblies, power management devices, battery packs on an OEM/ODM basis to some of the world’s leading makers of communications devices, computers and consumer electronics,” according to its website. Also among the company’s offerings are camera modules, including those for USB cameras, face authentication cameras, compact cameras and 3D cameras.
Foxlink chairman Gou is the brother of the famous Terry Gou, Taiwan entrepreneur and founder of Hon Hai Precision Industries better known as Foxconn, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and a major assembler of iPhones. Last year, Terry Gou announced his bid to run for Taiwan’s president as an independent, yet withdrew his bid at the last minute.
E-mail requests to Dahua US, Luminys and Foxlink for further information have yet to be answered.
Dahua challenges in the U.S.
Dahua, Hikvision and other Chinese companies are subject to multiple efforts from the US government to ban or restrict sales in the U.S. due to increased
geopolitical tensions between the two countries. The latest such effort was in 2022 when the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules prohibiting communications equipment “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security” from being authorized for importation or sale in the U.S. In a press release, FCC said the “Report and Order” applies to future authorizations of equipment identified on the FCC-published Covered List, which includes communications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, and Dahua Technology (and their subsidiaries and affiliates).
How Dahua’s US business will fare after the sale remains to be seen. In the meantime, Dahua US assured the ownership transfer would be smooth and seamless. In the letter obtained by Security InfoWatch, Lin said that the change itself will have no impact on product dealers, that they will receive continuous tech support, that the sales team at Dahua will not change, and that all points of contact and sales channels will remain the same.