The US-China technology rivalry is cleaving the industry into two. In this duality, each side does more or less the same as the opposing side but in quite different ways.

It is not necessarily new, and telecom is a good example. While most countries have undergone varying degrees of market liberalization, China still has just three state-owned players, guaranteeing government control.

The Chinese Internet experience is a very different one. Familiar global brands are inaccessible and domestic names such as WeChat, Weibo, Taobao, Xiao Hong Shu, Bilibili and Meituan dominate. China has its own navigation system, Beidou, its own digital currency, and is developing its own platforms such as Harmony handset OS.

There are some obvious overlaps too in the way the two countries are trying to rein in their tech giants.

Both share concerns about market dominance and abuse of market power; about protecting individual data privacy; and even about the political reach of the Internet giants.

One surprising area of agreement, however, is that both have anxieties about Chinese companies on US stock exchanges.

The US removed Chinese telcos from its bourses. Now China is tightening the reins.

A series of shocks involving ridesharing firm Didi Chuxing in the past week have changed the way US-listed firms from China will be regulated.

The Hangzhou-based company ignored an official request to delay its NYSE IPO, which was the second largest by a Chinese firm in the US, raising $4.4 billion in its June 30 debut.

Since that high point the stock has slumped 20% after multiple blows: Beijing pulled its app from Chinese app stores, banned it from adding new customers and announced a review into the alleged illegal collection of private data. It faces two US lawsuits.

Chinese authorities now require all firms seeking a US listing to seek the approval of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), whose remit until now has been the domestic Internet.

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Most analysts agree the underlying reason for all this attention is the huge pools of valuable data held by firms like Didi. They are a potential cybersecurity risk that needs continued oversight from an empowered agency like the CAC.

The CAC and securities regulators are reportedly next examining the VIE (variable interest entity) structure that almost all Chinese companies use when listing offshore – another sign of how data security, and the CAC, have become central to corporate oversight.

Inevitably it will make it harder for Chinese technology companies to list abroad and further deepen the US-China tech divide.

— Robert Clark, contributing editor, special to Light Reading