INTERVIEW Ren Zhengfei - Huawei
”There is some controversy around 5G but it will take time for us to demonstrate that 5G and AI will bring huge
value to people and people should give trust to innovation.” Ren Zhengfei, CEO - Huawei
Regaining trust
It’s fair to say it’s been a rough 18 months or so for Huawei. With tensions ramping up with the US, the
manufacturer’s CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei sat down for some coffee with Comms Business
Either through its assult
on the mobile industry
or through its con ict
with the US Government,
Huawei has become a
household name.
However, the latter has
taken its toll over the Chinese
manufacturer, prompting the
founder and CEO to come out
and address the media after
somewhat of a hiatus.
Speaking during a ‘Co ee
with Mr. Ren’ interview, Ren
Zhengfei said that regaining
trust with the public is
something that the company
is focussed on, adding “as
time goes by I think the trust
level will increase.
In Europe, Huawei has
received a lot of opportunities
and we see a lot of
opportunities around the
world but we cannot expect
everyone to trust us, that is
not realistic in the short term.
From what we see
from the distrust, I think
that is caused by a lack of
understanding and a lack of
knowledge about 5G. ose
with a knowledge of 5G, like
telecom operators are, generally,
trusting us despite the noise
and our 5G business is running
normally.
Before the interview, Huawei
was said to be o ering a licence
for all of its 5G infrastructure
for a one-o fee. However,
when asked Ren said that the
o er wasn’t quite all it seemed.
“I didn’t mean that we will
licence to all western companies,
we’re only willing to do an
exclusive licence to one company
from the west so they are able to
achieve an economy of scale to
support their business.
I think this one company
Huawei CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei
should be a US company
because, in Europe, they have
5G and in Japan and Korea they
have the relevant technologies
and when they are optimising
their technologies they will
adjust accordingly.
But the US does not have
this technology, so I think we
should give an exclusive licence
with one US company and
after they get the licence they
should be able to compete with
us around the world, not just in
the US business.”
Joining Ren for co ee
was Jerry Kaplan, arti cial
intelligence expert and lecturer
at Stanford University as well
as former CTO of BT, Peter
Cochrane. On the subject of
trust in the technology world,
Kaplan said “Trust is a fraught
word, it’s an emotional word in
English.
e truth is that you don’t
need trust to do business,
you need predictability to do
business.
What we need is a better
expression of mutual respect
which, to be frank, the United
States at a political level is
not doing, therefore it cannot
engage in productive dialogue.
Ren added that he believes
AI is in its infancy and that,
although the distrust felt by
the wider public around AI is
understandable, the innovations
to come will be worth it.
“People have only just been
given high powered computing
which has powered the
development of AI.
at’s why people have
concerns about AI and whether
it will displace people or jobs,
whether that will change ethics
or society.
But if we throw our mind
back the population has
doubled and tripled, a few years
ago people su ered hunger, now
we have a surplus of supply,
that’s because the productivity
has grown exponentially.
5G comes as a happenstance.
5G is designed as a tool, it’s like
a textile machine or train, it is
a supporting platform. ere is
some controversy around 5G
but it will take time for us to
demonstrate that 5G and AI
will bring huge value to people
and people should give trust to
innovation.”
42 | Comms Business Magazine | November 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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