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Coronavirus pandemic
TechTech leaders and founders

Founder Ren Zhengfei says Huawei ‘racing to develop’ new technologies amid coronavirus pandemic

  • Huawei was on the front foot before the coronavirus crisis gripped China because of pressure from the US government
  • Pandemic has not slowed Ren’s commitment to develop own technology and remain world's largest telco equipment supplier

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Huawei Technologies founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei is interviewed by SCMP editor-in-chief Tammy Tam, far left, and business editor Eugene Tang via video conference at Huawei’s office in Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam
Iris Deng

While the coronavirus pandemic may have forced many companies in China and around the world to hit the pause button on business operations, engineers at Huawei Technologies have been working round the clock to combat the crisis.

The world’s largest telecommunications equipment supplier and China’s biggest smartphone maker has been motivated by a sense of mission, said Ren Zhengfei, founder and chief executive of Huawei, as he sat down for an interview with the South China Morning Post this week.

“Over 20,000 scientists, experts and engineers worked overtime during the Lunar New Year holiday, because we’re racing to develop new [technologies],” Ren said, referring to the work in progress as “something which will keep us ahead of global competition”, without revealing further details.

The company was on the front foot before the coronavirus crisis gripped China and spread around the world because of pressure from the US government on its market-leading 5G network gear business.

“The US will continue to increase sanctions on us, and we will have to complete [the new technologies] before that happens,” Ren, 75, said in a video interview from his Shenzhen office on Tuesday, the first he has given since the coronavirus outbreak shut down large parts of the world.

Aside from the US sanctions, Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and Ren’s daughter by his first marriage, is still in Canada awaiting a hearing to be extradited to the US, where she faces a bank fraud charge. Ren said he misses his elder daughter, whom he last spoke with by phone in late January during the Lunar New Year holiday. Ren is confident that “there shouldn’t be a worst-case scenario” regarding Meng’s trial.
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