Bangkok--21 Jan--Francom Asia
On January 15, Mr. Ren Zhengfei, Huawei Founder and CEO, gave an interview to international media in Shenzhen. Here are excerpts from the English transcripts on a series of key points.
On Security/Safety Issues of Huawei Customers' Networks
"Over the past 30 years, our products have been used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than 3 billion users in total. We have maintained a solid track record in security. Huawei is an independent business organization. When it comes to cyber security and privacy protection, we are committed to siding with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual. Secondly, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially clarified that no law in China requires any company to install backdoors. Neither Huawei, nor I personally, have ever received any requests from any government to provide improper information."
On the Development of 5G Technology
"In terms of 5G, we have signed 30-plus commercial contracts today, and we have already shipped 25,000 5G base stations. We have 2,570 5G patents. I believe that, as long as we develop very compelling products, there will be customers who will buy them.
There are only several companies in the world working on 5G infrastructure equipment, and not many companies are engaged in microwave technology. Huawei is the only company in the world that can integrate 5G base stations with the most advanced microwave technology. With that capability, our 5G base stations don't even need fiber connections. Instead, they can use superfast microwave to support ultra-wide bandwidth backhauls. This is a compelling solution that makes a lot of economic sense. It works best for sparsely populated rural areas."
On Relations with Customers
"Customer-centricity has been at the very core of Huawei's business operations since our founding. We will never do anything to harm the interests of our customers. Apple is an example we look up to in terms of privacy protection. We will learn from Apple. We would rather shut Huawei down than do anything that would damage the interests of our customers in order to seek our own gains."
On Huawei's R&D Expenses
"Our annual R&D investment has reached 15 to 20 billion US dollars. Over the next five years, we are going to invest a total of more than 100 billion US dollars into R&D. Public companies, however, are unlikely to do this, because they focus on making their balance sheets look good. What matters more to Huawei is the future industry structure. Our decision-making system is different from public companies. It is very simple, and we are working hard to make the information society a reality."
"Our R&D investment averages 15–20 billion US dollars per year. That puts Huawei in the top 5 position across all industries in the world in terms of R&D intensity. In total, we have been granted 87,805 patents. In the United States, we have registered 11,152 core technology patents. We are actively involved in 360+ standards bodies, where we have made more than 54,000 proposals."
On Huawei's Ownership
"We have 96,768 shareholding employees. […] On January 12, we completed the election of our shareholding employee representatives around the world. Over the past few days, our messengers around the world have been taking those votes back to Shenzhen. We are going to calculate the votes on our electronic platform, and audit the authenticity of those votes. Eventually, we will come up with 115 representatives for all shareholding employees. The Representatives' Commission, consisting of these 115 employees, is the highest decision-making authority in Huawei, and the company is owned by our 96,768 shareholding employees."
"The total number of shares that I personally have within Huawei is 1.14%, and the stake that Steve Jobs had in Apple was 0.58%. That means there is still potential for my stake to be further diluted. I should learn from Steve Jobs."
On Huawei's Governance
Board members are selected based on meritocracy. Their responsibility is to grow more crops or increase the fertility of our soil. They are supposed to lead the company forward. Seniority does not matter when we select board members. Members of the Supervisory Board are selected based on integrity. […]
We currently have three rotating chairmen. Each of these takes turns to be in charge for six months. During those six months, that individual is the highest leader in Huawei. But this highest leader is also subject to the law of our company. The law is our Articles of Governance, and the authority of the Rotating and Acting Chairman is also subject to our collective decision-making mechanism. […]
The Executive Committee consists of seven executives. They will vote, and a majority must be achieved before any motion can be then presented to a plenary session of the Board of Directors. During a plenary session of the Board of Directors, we also follow the principle of majority. No motion can become a board resolution until it passes voting or a decision is made at the plenary session.
On Relations with The United States
"The message to the US that I want to communicate is collaboration and shared success. In our high-tech world, it is increasingly impossible for any single company or even any single country to do the whole thing.
In the industrialization era, maybe one nation alone would have all the capabilities needed to produce a complete textile machine, a complete train, or a complete ship. We are in a world of information. In an information society, interdependence between one another is very significant. And it is these interdependencies that drive human society to progress even faster. The information society we are going to see will be massive. And for any single market opportunity, it cannot be sustained or supported by any single company. Instead, it calls for the concerted efforts of thousands or even tens of thousands of companies working together."
"For President Trump as a person, I still believe he's a great president, in the sense that he was bold to slash taxes. I think that's conducive to the development of industries in the U.S."
"When unexpected huge incidents happened, like US companies that suddenly decided to stop buying Huawei phones, some people in China said we should do the same to Apple's iPhones in China. My opinion was that the Chinese government should not take similar measures against Apple in China. The national interests or policies around economic reform and opening up cannot be sacrificed for the benefit of Huawei. Even in light of the recent setbacks we encountered in some Western countries, we still support China, as a country, to become even more open. I think China can become more prosperous only when it becomes more open, and continues to press ahead with its reform agenda."
The international media who participated in the interview were Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times, Fortune, Mobile World Live and Wall Street Journal.