Huawei denies it is branching out into real estate on commercial basis, property unit to serve internal needs

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies denied reports of diversification into real estate, following speculation that was triggered after a business registration database showed it had formed a property investment company.

The Shenzhen-based company said in a statement that its wholly-owned unit Dongguan Tangya Industrial Investment, was set up mainly for the construction and management of a housing project for its employees.

“It will not operate any external real estate business,” Huawei said in a statement on its official account on Chinese news aggregator platform Jinri Toutiao last week.

Huawei was responding to speculation about entering the property business after the records of Dongguan Tangya, that were found on business registration information providers including Tianyancha, showed it to be wholly owned by Huawei’s investment unit, and that the scope of its businesses covered residential and commercial property leasing, campus management services and project management services.

In 2021, Huawei stated that it would not become a real estate developer. “Huawei will not develop real estate, but our smart-home devices have connected everything in a home through the Harmony operating system,” said Guo Ping, then rotating chairman and now chairman of the Supervisory Board of Huawei, in a memo to employees that was published on the company’s website. “This is how we build a connection with the biggest industry in the world,” he said while adding that property was the biggest industry in the world, followed by the automobile and smartphone industries.