Following the sanction on hardware operations in the U.S., Huawei founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei has urged the Chinese tech giant’s staff to “dare to lead the world” In software.
A reporter at Reuters claimed that the phone-making company shared an Internal memo which is clear evidence that Huawei is set in this new direction as it responds to the immense pressure sanctions have placed on its handset business.
According to Ren in the memo (seen by Reuters), the company will focus on software because future development in the field is fundamentally “outside of the United States control and we will have greater independence and autonomy”.
As it will be hard for Huawei to produce advanced hardware in the short term, it should focus on building software ecosystems, such as its HarmonyOS operating system, its cloud AI system Mindspore, and other IT products, the memo reads.
History of Sanction
In 2019, Former U.S. President Donald Trump put Huawei on an export blacklist. The phone making Company was then barred from accessing critical U.S.-origin technology, impeding its ability to design its own chips and source components from outside vendors.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has given no indication that it’ll reverse Trump’s sanctions.
The blacklist also barred Google (GOOGL.O) from providing technical support to new Huawei phone models and access to Google Mobile Services, the bundle of developer services upon which most Android apps are based.
Huawei’s 2020 annual report did not break down how much of its 891.4 billion yuan ($138.70 billion) revenue was from its software.
