Inside China Tech: Huawei at MWC Shanghai, Bytedance’s global moves, and dim future for a ‘Clubhouse’ of China
- GSMA’s head of Greater China believes a geographic split of global 5G standards is not likely to happen despite the ongoing tech dispute with the US
- The ambitions of ByteDance in video games, a highly competitive but profitable business, have become clearer with its aggressive hiring of talent
Huawei at Mobile World Congress Shanghai
MWC Shanghai, the regional edition of the world’s biggest mobile industry trade show, kicked off on Tuesday amid the ongoing US-China tech war, providing a major showcase for the latest innovation from the likes of telecommunications equipment giants Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp.
The annual event organised by the GSM Association, which represents the interests of more than 750 wireless network operators and almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, was touted as the telecoms industry’s first large-scale hybrid event of its kind.
Huawei made a confident showing of its 5G offerings, both for consumers and enterprises, with one of the largest exhibition footprints at the event, and revealed one of their most expensive phones to date: the foldable Mate X2. This belied, however, the pressure the company is under. In his keynote speech, rotating chairman Ken Hu Houkun reiterated that US sanctions have made it tough for the company and revealed that 2020 saw “slight” growth.
“The past year was, indeed, very difficult [for Huawei], [but] I think it is the same for everyone. Huawei is no exception,” said Hu.
Just one day later, founder Ren Zhengfei was reported to have told employees at the company’s 2021 annual work conference that they must try to use “third-class” components to manufacture “first-class” products amid stifling US trade restrictions.