With Huawei no longer able to buy chips produced with American equipment, the Chinese telecom giant is rolling out a strategy to deal with U.S. restrictions. At the company's annual flagship event, Huawei Connect 2020, in Shanghai, its top management team gave domestic and global media outlets their latest response.
Huawei's response to U.S.' latest sanction
In the face of U.S. sanctions, Huawei's rotating chairman, Guo Ping, says the company has sufficient stock to continue providing businesses with chips. But they're still figuring out ways to acquire millions of high-end chips for smartphones. And American companies are applying for a special license, as they hope to provide them with the technology.
Huawei's rotating chairman, Guo Ping, said U.S. sanctions limit many global chipmakers' business. /CGTN
"These sanctions have not only stopped American companies from selling chips, but also limited global companies outside the U.S. We still hope the U.S. government will reconsider their policies. If they allow us to, we'll still purchase their chips," Guo explained.
He says the company's current goal is to survive this difficult period. As 5G is rolled out at scale worldwide, Huawei believes connectivity, cloud, AI, computing, and industrial applications have all come together to create unprecedented opportunities for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. But how to keep the data safe is a big concern across the world.
Huawei will attract more talents, not cut jobs
Under the current COVID-19 pandemic, Huawei says its global business has been greatly impacted, but the company's human resources will remain stable; they will not cut jobs and continue to attract more talents.
When asked why Huawei has recently pulled some investment from Australia, the company's top executive said Australia is a very small market, and Huawei is adjusting its strategy according to the real performances. They will continue their expansion in global as well as domestic markets.
Data security, lack of talents are major challenges
As most governments, enterprises and societies are embracing digital technologies, Johnny Yu, consulting clients and markets leader at PwC China, told CGTN that data security and data management are major challenges. Because data is everywhere, people have to come together to guarantee its safety and make sure governments, enterprises and individuals can benefit from the value of data.
Another challenge Yu mentioned is the lack of talents in the digital era. He said PwC has made several surveys in global enterprises, and around 60 percent of company staff need to be trained and improve their digital way of thinking. Digitization not only means the hardware and software, but also highlights improved human resources.
Clean 5G? No single government can define that
The U.S. has recently launched a Clean Network program. It not only aims to keep Chinese hardware companies out of America's 5G infrastructure, but also telecoms carriers, cloud services and app stores. Many say fair and transparent global standards are needed.
"We need an objective standard to define clean 5G, no specific government or politician can define what a clean network is. I hope global society can work together on a united network and data security regulation based on international facts and rules," Wang Tao, Huawei executive director of the board, said.
5G, cloud computing and AI are some of the fundamental elements to build a smarter society. Huawei hopes to work closer with global partners to enrich industrial applications, so everyone can enjoy a safer and better connection.
