Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Huawei Korea CEO Sun Luyuan, center, speaks during the company's press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Huawei Korea |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies has vowed to deepen cooperation with the Korean government's Digital New Deal drive that aims to foster high-potential information and communication technology.
"The Korean government announced its Digital New Deal policy and it is accelerating digital transformation in the whole economy by promoting non-face-to-face industries," Sun Luyuan, CEO of Huawei Korea, told reporters during a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday. "Huawei is highly complementary to such drive and we are actively pursuing to support Korea's digital economic development."
Korea revealed its Digital New Deal scheme last year to increase investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications services. With its cutting-edge 5G network products, the company aims to support the country to achieve the goal, the CEO added.
Huawei held the conference to introduce its business vision and how its Korean branch has worked to seek mutual growth with Korean companies. Karl Song, vice president of corporate communications at Huawei, also joined the conference online.
"Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Huawei's Korea branch. We have maintained an open, cooperative and win-win attitude and strive to create value with Korea under the slogan of 'In Korea, For Korea,'" the CEO said.
Sun emphasized that Huawei has been a big partner to Korean companies including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. "For the past five years, Huawei's accumulated purchases from Korean firms amounted to $37 billion. We also created various job positions and helped local partners speed up R&D activities," he said.
 |
| Huawei Korea CEO Sun Luyuan poses during the company's press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Huawei Korea |
Huawei also admitted that the company has undergone hard times due to the ongoing sanctions imposed by the United States. The Trump administration applied sanctions against Huawei in 2018, banning U.S. firms from selling equipment to the Chinese company. The latest sanctions on the company were to ban the supply of semiconductors made with U.S. equipment, software and design to Huawei without prior approval.
Due to the sanctions, Huawei, which was once regarded as one of the world's top three smartphone makers along with Samsung Electronics and Apple, saw its market shares decrease. Its smartphone share in China in February was 15 percent, following Oppo with 25 percent and Vivo with 22 percent, according to data by market tracker Counterpoint Research. The company logged slower earnings last year, generating $136 billion in sales, up 3.8 percent year-on-year.
"The U.S. has begun imposing sanctions on Huawei since 2018 and the company has been severely hit by the three sets of sanctions. Last year, we only grew around 4 percent so it is true that the U.S. sanctions have taken a toll on Huawei's overall growth," Song said.
Stating that the company has been struggling with sourcing semiconductors due to the sanctions and the global semiconductor shortage, the communication head added, "Huawei hopes that the U.S. will withdraw its sanctions as soon as possible so that the company will be able to bring its business back on track."
To diversify its portfolio in IT device sector, the company has employed a strategy it calls "1+8+N" where "1" refers to smartphones, "8" refers to other electronic devices ― PCs, tablets, HD displays, speakers, smart glasses, smart watches, telematics and earbuds ― and "N" refers to five digital technology categories: Mobile Office, Smart Home, Fitness & Health, Entertainment and Easy Travel.
"We have secured enough chips to be used for network equipment, but we are undergoing hard times securing chips for phones. This is why we are using the 1+8+N strategy to focus more on other IT gadgets that do not require as many semiconductors as smartphones," he said.
