SHENZHEN (CHINA) – Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei said in remarks made public on Friday that the United States remains a “beacon of technology” to be emulated and China’s Huawei Technology should take into consideration cutting products after US actions against it.
Ren’s comments, in a letter to staff dated June of last year, were brought out for the first time on a company message board, making it the first public word from the company after Joe Biden assumed presidency from Donald Trump.
Huawei has remained largely silent about its prospects under the Biden administration, after falling prey to several rounds of sanctions under Trump, who said Huawei’s equipment poses threat to security. The company denies the charge.
In a parting shot on Monday, the Commerce Department told semiconductor makers it would reject or revoke licenses of companies including chipmaker Intel Corp to sell products to Huawei, as per people familiar with the matter.
Ren’s letter said that US actions had left Huawei “with a great mismatch between our strategy and our abilities, and that the company will have to revaluate some product lines, and consider cutting some products and staff that are unproductive”.
The letter was posted publicly after former Huawei sub-brand Honor made announcements of new supply partnerships with major chip companies including Intel and Qualcomm.
The letter did not mention the Biden administration specifically, though analysts have said the company will be in need of a breather from Washington to bounce back with its hobbled phone and 5G infrastructure businesses.
Ren said, “The United States is still the world’s beacon of technology, and we must learn everything we can from advanced people.”
