Huawei founder confident his company will prevail

Ren Zhengfei

Huawei Founder and CEO Mr Ren Zhengfei expressed confidence in the company’s business and capacity, saying the company had been preparing in anticipation of situations as of now, and it is well- prepared. 

“We will certainly be able to continue serving our customers. Our production capacity is huge, and adding Huawei to the Entity List won't have a huge impact on us. We are making progress in bidding worldwide.” Ren said.

The U.S. Commerce Department has announced it will add Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and its affiliates to its so-called "Entity List," a move aiming to ban Huawei from buying parts and components from U.S. companies without government-approved licenses.

The preparation he mentioned includes the company’s huge R&D investment and contingency plan. According to the 2018 EU R&D Investment Scoreboard, Huawei ranks fifth,with steady growth in its R&D investment. 

Huawei has a consistent Business Continuity Management System which has been certified by dozens of neutral third parties inEurope. The company has also been vigorously integrating BCMS into it global suppliers’ obligation.

Ren conceded that he expected Huawei’s growth to slow down, but expressed confidence in the company’s future prospects. 

“In the first quarter of this year, our revenue grew 39% over the same period last year. This rate decreased to 25% in April, and may continue decreasing towards the end of this year. But the US ban will not lead to negative growth or harm the development of our industry.”

The leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands said that their governments will not follow suit to ban Huawei from involvement in their networks.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was not the aim of France to block Huawei, nor to launch any form of technological war. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said companies could participate in expanding Germany's 5G network if they met established safety criteria.

In an interview with CNBC Africa on Wednesday, Huawei Vice President of Corporate Communications, Glenn Schlosssaid.

“The device in people’s hands are completely unaffected by what’s happening in the US. For owners of Huawei handsets it will be business as usual.” Schloss said. 

“We remain positive, but we are preparing for various eventualities. We are stockpiling components and have been working with our supply-chain partners for some time.” He added.