After stating that “the best defense is a good offense”, Ren Zhengfei outlined an ambitious plan to develop software that “adapts and embraces the world”.
The president of Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, called on the company to fully enter into software production, as part of an accelerated diversification of products to face US sanctions, an internal document revealed on Tuesday.
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Ren Zhengfei, president and founder of Huawei, told the company’s staff that the move makes sense “because in the software world, the United States would have very little control over our future development and we would have more autonomy.” The 76-year-old Ren’s instructions represent the latest sign of a strategic turnaround brought on by pressure from the United States, which sees Huawei as a potential security threat.
Huawei announced in April its plans to work with Chinese automakers to produce smart vehicles, vowing to accelerate the development of its own smartphone operating system after it was left without access to Google’s Android platform due to US measures. .
The Chinese company published a short message on its social networks on Tuesday to indicate that its operating system, called HarmonyOS, would be released globally on June 2, without giving further details. After stating that “the best defense is a good offense”, Ren outlined an ambitious plan to develop software that “adapts and embraces the world.” But the internal document offered few details of the types of software Huawei would develop or who its competitors would be.
#Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu unveils plans for #HarmonyOS in 2021, with 20 smartphone vendors & 260 app developers collaborating to build an ecosystem within the platform, and 100 million devices expected to run the operating system. #HuaweiFactshttps://t.co/GT5emeInJk
— Huawei (@Huawei) April 14, 2021
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump launched an aggressive campaign to isolate Huawei, saying its equipment could be used by the Communist Party of China for espionage and sabotage. The company was banned from the US market and was left out of global component supply chains as Washington pressured its allies to stop including Huawei equipment in their telecommunications networks.
China and Huawei firmly rejected the US accusations, claiming that no supporting evidence has ever been presented. Still, Huawei’s mobile phone sales fell in the last year.
The government of the new US president, Joe Biden, has indicated that it will maintain pressure on the firm. Given this, Ren said that he will focus his software production on the Chinese market, without losing sight of Europe, Asia and Africa.
