DiDi, one of China’s technology giants, has frozen its plans to expand into Europe this year.
Confirmation of this news came from the United Kingdom, where the company had established one of its new operations centers, and where hiring has already been suspended.
DiDi postponed its arrival in Europe, at least this year
Expanding the reach that DiDi has today in its original China, part of South America, and, recently, South Africa, the transport company from the Asian giant also had on its agenda its arrival on the European continent.
Both in the United Kingdom, as well as in Continental Europe, the transport application had projected its arrival on the continent for this year. The tightening of regulations on the privacy of user data in that country would have hindered the timely arrival of the service in this region.
This mobility platform that competed against Uber in China and ended up acquiring its share in that country, stopped hiring staff in the United Kingdom and according to the aforementioned report, activation plans in this area would have to wait at least another year.
“We continue to explore additional new markets, liaising with relevant stakeholders in each and being thoughtful about when to introduce our services,” a Didi spokesperson said in response to press inquiries, without discussing specific new territories.
Apart from the particular complications on British soil, in general, Chinese companies have had to face, from different origins, the application of various regulations and sanctions for political matters, information security, or monopolistic practices, both inside and outside their native China. A couple of emblematic situations in this regard are the cases of Huawei and Alibaba.
Also, Didi is under a cybersecurity review process by Chinese authorities as part of its new privacy and security policies.
Considering its explosive expansion in recent years, plus the recent listing of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, DiDi will probably seek not to disappear from the map of Europe so easily, as this continent is a market with great potential for expansion.
