BEIJING: In his latest meeting with the media, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has reiterated the company is in a strong position to move ahead despite recent political actions in the US.
Addressing questions about the impact of the White House’s recent executive order, he noted: “What the US will do is out of our control. To us, the most important thing is to do our job well. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the US companies that we work with. Over these 30 years, they have helped us to grow into what we are today. They have made many contributions to us. As you know, most of the companies that provide consulting services to Huawei are based in the US, including dozens of companies like IBM and Accenture. In the face of the recent crisis, I can feel these companies’ sense of justice and sympathy towards us.”
He stated: “The US is a country ruled by law. US companies must abide by the laws and so must the real economy. The media should understand that these US companies and Huawei share the same fate. We are both players in the market economy. Our close relationships with US companies are the result of several decades of effort on both sides. These relationships won’t be destroyed by a piece of paper from the US government.”
The supply of products to Huawei from international partners was also discussed. “Our company will not end up with an extreme supply shortage. Even if there is insufficient supply from our partners, we will face no problems. This is because we can manufacture all the high-end chips we need ourselves,” he said,
As long as these companies can obtain approval from Washington, Ren said Huawei will continue to buy in large volumes from them. “It may be the case that they cannot obtain approval quickly. We have ways to go through this transition period. Once approval is granted, we will maintain our normal trade with these US companies and work together to build an information society for humanity. We don’t want to work alone.”
With regards to Huawei’s business outlook for 2019, Ren said: “Our growth will slow down, though not by as much as everyone imagines. In the first quarter of this year, our revenue grew 39 per cent over the same period last year. This rate decreased to 25 per cent in April and may continue decreasing towards the end of this year. But the US ban will not lead to negative growth or harm the development of our industry.”
In addressing its latest reputational challenges, Ren said: “We do not seek to solve our reputation issues outside of China through media campaigns. I think we will ultimately need to solve these issues by providing excellent services to our customers. We are very advanced and our customers will realise this if they start using our services.”
