Huawei, the Chinese technology giant, is facing an unexpected comeback story. Starting with a new premium smartphone in August 2023, the US-sanctioned company has released new phones, laptops, AI chips and electric vehicles, putting it at the forefront of China’s push for technological self-sufficiency. Huawei will achieve nearly $100 billion in sales in 2023.
But Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei still isn’t entirely sure that his company has overcome its problems.
“So far, we cannot say we have guaranteed survival,” Ren said on October 14 to the winners of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), a global programming competition dating back to 1970. published Text of Ren’s statements on Thursday.
Unlike Huawei, “99% of Chinese companies can cooperate with the United States,” Ren said. “They have not faced sanctions, their computing power is superior to ours, and they have access to superior technology.”
“Don’t look at us today and think we have big dreams,” he said. “No, we’re still struggling.”
Huawei’s founder also praised the United States and its strength in science and technology, which he attributed to an open culture that can attract global talent. He warned that countries risk being left behind if they shut themselves down.
The Trump administration placed Huawei on a US trade blacklist in 2019, then barred the Chinese tech company from sourcing semiconductors made using American technology or software a year later. These sanctions have crippled Huawei’s telecommunications and consumer electronics businesses, forcing it to suspend products and spin off parts of the company to survive.
But years later, Huawei returned to the consumer electronics sector with new premium smartphones and laptops. It is also developing new artificial intelligence chips and electric vehicle components, both strategic sectors for Beijing.
Huawei is also developing its own software, after being isolated from the Apple and Google app stores. The company developed HarmonyOS, its own mobile operating system, and Recently launched HarmonyOS NEXT which marks Huawei’s break from the Android ecosystem.
It’s still not entirely clear how Huawei obtains the advanced tools and processors needed for its new premium products. Analysts have previously suggested that Huawei and its partners have found ways to use older machinery to make more powerful chips, but these approaches are unlikely to have the same returns as technologies used elsewhere.
Recently, A a report TechInsights claimed that Huawei’s AI chip contains a processor made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The Taiwanese chipmaker halted shipments to Huawei in 2020.
Last week, TSMC said it had cut off customers it claimed were secretly transferring chips to Huawei.
In his remarks in October, the Huawei founder admitted that American technologies and tools were “very good” and that his unlicensed competitors still had access to them. He pointed out that the sanctions forced Huawei to develop its own tools, something the technology company has succeeded in doing so far.
It looks like Huawei is ready for another year of sales. The company has It generated $82.2 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the year, according to Huawei’s filing with a Shanghai clearinghouse published on Thursday. But the company’s profits during the same period took a hit, falling nearly 14% to $8.8 billion.