Ren Zhengfei interview full text: There will be no chip supply cuts, don't incite national sentiment, my family also uses Apple, I've been married twice

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On May 15, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that Huawei would be included in the so-called "Entity List", requiring any U.S. company purchasing products from Huawei to obtain special approval.

Today, Huawei founder and president Ren Zhengfei was interviewed at Huawei headquarters and responded to recent hot issues such as US sanctions.

On sanctions: They were foreseen and will not affect development

Regarding the US sanctions, Ren Zhengfei said Huawei had foreseen them.

"During the Spring Festival this year, Huawei estimated that this situation would occur two years from now, and that it would have two years to prepare. After the Meng Wanzhou incident, Huawei believed that this time had been brought forward."

"(This incident) is just an attempt to influence my will. My daughter said she had been mentally prepared for a long time, which relieved a lot of my pressure."

"You need to think beyond Huawei, individuals, and families to be objective."

"During the Spring Festival, 5,000 people were working overtime, and we received double pay to support our soldiers in the battle. Everyone was racing against time," he said.

He said the ban would not affect Huawei's development.

"China Mobile won 37 out of 40 cities in its bidding last week. It has not stopped its development because of the US ban. It will not cause negative growth in the company's development, nor will it affect the company's development."

Regarding the current situation facing Huawei, Ren Zhengfei said that we must remain calm and composed, and ultimately win the battle. "We cannot be beaten just because we are ahead of the United States."

"We have sacrificed ourselves and our families for an ideal. We have conflicts with the United States, but in the end we will contribute to humanity together."

Talking about the 90-day "temporary permit": It's meaningless

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce website announced that it would give Huawei and its partners a 90-day "temporary license."

In this regard, Ren Zhengfei said that the US "90-day temporary license" does not make much sense, and Huawei has made preparations. However, Huawei is very grateful to American companies, who have made a lot of contributions to Huawei, and many of Huawei's consultants come from American companies such as IBM.

"The most important thing for us is to do what we can do well. We cannot control what the US government does," he said.

Talking about chip supply cuts: There are backups

Regarding the "supply cut" issue, Ren Zhengfei said that those who are in the right will have many supporters, while those who are in the wrong will have few, and American companies are still very helpful to us.

"American companies cannot fail to comply with American laws. American companies and Huawei share the same destiny."

"If you want to criticize, just criticize American politicians. This has nothing to do with American companies. The current actions of American politicians underestimate our strength," he said.

He revealed that Huawei was subject to the Entity List a year ago, and components produced in the United States can no longer be supplied to Huawei.

He said that Huawei can also make chips like American chips, but that does not mean it will not buy them.

"We have always used half of our chips from American companies and half from our own. Even though our own chips are much cheaper, I still buy American chips. We should integrate into this world."

"We will not easily and narrowly exclude American chips. We want to grow together, but if there are supply difficulties, we have backups."

"We will continue to buy parts from American companies in the future, as long as they are approved by the US government."

Earlier, Reuters quoted Japanese media reports that German chip manufacturer Infineon has suspended supplies to Huawei.

In response to this, Ren Zhengfei refuted the rumor, saying: "German chip manufacturer Infineon has not stopped supplying."

He also said that the United States does not have the power to call on all other countries to close the door to Huawei, and every country has plans for overseas investment.

He also admitted that Huawei would indeed be affected by the current situation, but he believed that this would also stimulate China to develop its electronics industry in a down-to-earth manner.

"The policy in the past was to throw money at it. But it's not enough to just throw money at chips; we also need to throw in mathematicians, physicists, etc. But how many people are still studying seriously? It may not be possible to rely on one country alone. Although China has a wealth of talented people, we still have to look for talent around the world. It will be difficult to succeed by relying solely on China's independent innovation. Why can't we embrace the world and rely on global innovation?" he said.

On cooperation with Europe: Using Eastern Europe as a base to break through the US siege

Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei should take China as its center and Eastern Europe as its base to break through the siege of the United States.

"5G capacity is 20 times that of 4G and 10,000 times that of 2G. Power consumption is reduced by 10 times. Each Huawei site can save Europe 10,000 euros. Europe will not follow the United States. Instead, it will communicate closely with us."

Ren Zhengfei said that it would be difficult for our country's physicists, chemists, etc. to succeed by relying solely on their own innovation. We should learn from the advantages of other countries and go to wherever there is excellence.

Ren Zhengfei said that the research centers in the United States are also continuously producing Chinese scientists. Our country has a 5,000-year-old civilization and has such a good foundation. We have adopted policies to embrace the world. You can see that Eastern European countries are relatively poor, but many things from the United States have moved to Eastern Europe, and Eastern Europeans have come to China. With China as the center, I think the current way is that China has been better in recent years. China must study industry, chemistry, neurology, brain science, etc. down-to-earth, so that we can stand firm in this world.

On patriotism: Don’t incite national sentiment

Ren Zhengfei said that there are two kinds of emotions towards Huawei at present. One is the clear patriotism supporting Huawei, and the other is that Huawei has hijacked the patriotic sentiment of the whole society. Ren Zhengfei said that his own children just don't love Huawei because they love Apple . Yu Chengdong always says that the boss doesn't promote us. We stop them from shouting slogans blindly and inciting national sentiments.

Talking about HiSilicon: Will Not Be Independent

Ren Zhengfei said that HiSilicon is an appendage of Huawei, just like a stretcher team or a refueling truck for the main force, and it will never be independent.

In an internal letter to employees, He Tingbo, president of Huawei's chip company HiSilicon Semiconductor, mentioned that HiSilicon will use the "spare tire" plan. This move was interpreted by the outside world as a rejection and boycott of Qualcomm.

In response to this, Ren Zhengfei said today that Huawei purchases 50 million sets of Qualcomm chips every year and has never excluded or boycotted Qualcomm.

Talking about 5G and scientific research: Not affected

Speaking of 5G technology, Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei's 5G will definitely not be affected. "In terms of 5G technology, others will definitely not catch up with Huawei in two or three years."

Regarding basic scientific research, Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei has more than 20 research centers around the world, with at least 700 mathematicians, more than 800 physicists, more than 120 chemists, six to seven thousand basic research experts, and more than 60,000 senior engineers and engineers of various kinds, forming this combination to move forward.

"We have more than 15,000 basic research scientists and experts who turn money into knowledge, and we have more than 60,000 application-oriented talents who develop products and turn knowledge into money. We have always supported scientists outside the company to conduct scientific research and exploration."

He revealed that the 5G standard was discovered by a Turkish professor when he wrote a mathematical paper more than 20 years ago. "We have invested more than 2,000 people to study this paper and the 5G patent."

Talking about layoffs: If the company fails to do well, it is not the employees’ responsibility

When talking about layoffs, Ren Zhengfei said that if a company does not perform well, it is not the employees' responsibility but the company's responsibility.

Ren Zhengfei said that he once laid off a department with 1,200 employees that cost $20 billion because they did not achieve any results.

"I quietly told HR to raise the employees' salaries before laying them off."

Company management: All philosophy is customer-centric

Regarding company management, Ren Zhengfei said that Huawei has no management secrets.

"In fact, Huawei does not have a philosophy. I don't study philosophy myself. I think Huawei's philosophy is to be customer-centric and to create value for customers."

"Many books on Huawei on the market are based on online information, and many of them are untrue, but I don't object to that, because people who write books also need to survive."

Talking about education: To compete with the United States, we must do so through education

Ren Zhengfei said that if China wants to compete with the United States in the future, it must do so through education.

"Education is to improve the cultural quality of the whole people. We cannot just say education and do education at will. I believe that it ultimately depends on teachers. Only when the status of teachers is improved can we achieve high-quality development of education."

He cited his own personal experience as an example: "My parents are rural teachers, doing education in the most remote areas of Guizhou. My parents' education of our generation made me feel that teachers should have such a spirit."

Talking about other big companies: We are discussing solutions with Google, and my family also uses Apple phones

Previously, Google had stopped cooperating with Huawei at the request of the US government.

In response, Ren Zhengfei said that Google is a good company and a highly responsible company. Google and Huawei are also discussing how to respond.

Regarding Apple, Ren Zhengfei said, "My family is still using Apple phones. Apple's ecosystem is very good. When my family goes abroad, I also give them Apple computers. We cannot be narrow-minded and think that loving Huawei means loving Huawei phones."

Talking about family: I have been married twice, have three children, and I owe a lot to my family.

Talking about his family, Ren Zhengfei said that the people he felt most sorry for in his life were his children.

"I was too busy when I started my own business and had little time to communicate with them. When I was young, my company was struggling to survive, and I often had little contact with my children for several months. I owe them."

Ren revealed that his children set high standards for themselves and work very hard.

"For example, when my youngest daughter was young, she danced for 15 hours a week. When she was in college, she did her homework until 2 a.m. or even 4 or 5 a.m.," he gave an example.

Regarding marriage, Ren Zhengfei said that he had been married twice and his ex-wife was a very influential person.

"I am a free and easy person. We were introduced to each other, and I couldn't understand why she fell in love with me. She was a white swan flying in the sky, and I was a toad underground. Apart from my good academic performance, my family was not good at all. After 20 years, she broke up with me.