Looking to replace lost smartphone sales, Huawei turns to pig farming

Looking to replace lost smartphone sales, Huawei turns to pig farming

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Huawei should have been the largest smartphone maker in the world last year. The company had a plan to take first place by 2021 and, despite losing access to its American suppliers (including Google) in 2019, in early 2020 the company had overtaken Samsung and Apple to become the largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world. But then the other shoe fell. Exactly a year after the day the United States Department of Commerce placed Huawei on the list of entities that forced the Chinese company to stop doing business with Google, the United States made a change to the export rule. Suddenly, smelters using American technology were no longer allowed to send to Huawei without a license.

Huawei turns to other companies to make up for lost smartphone sales

Getting the latest chipsets for your phones and 5G base stations has become impossible. In an ironic twist, even Huawei-designed chips were out of bounds and the company’s smartphone sales plunged 42% during the fourth quarter, when the ban began. The United States considered Huawei, ZTE and some other Chinese companies as threats to national security due to their alleged links to the Chinese communist government.

In November, Huawei sold its Honor sub-brand so that it would not be banned from obtaining chips and components from the United States because of its association with Huawei. The $ 15 billion that Huawei received in the sale was certainly needed and now the company could end up becoming the seventh largest smartphone maker this year. The BBC says Huawei’s smartphone production could drop 60% this year, although the company has not confirmed the number. A Huawei spokesman said: “The problem here is not as if there are problems with our quality or experiences with Huawei products. It is not an equal playing field for Huawei, as Huawei is caught between geopolitical tensions . “

The company has been looking for other sources of revenue, which has led it to the pig industry. That’s right, Huawei, the company behind one of the most technologically advanced smartphone lines in the world, is in the business of raising pigs. This is an important industry in China, where 50% of the world’s live pigs are located. Huawei is actually bringing technology to the industry with facial recognition used to identify individual pigs. The farms are using other technology to monitor the pigs’ diet, weight and exercise. A spokesman for Huawei, discussing the technology company’s entry into pig farming, said: “Pig farming is yet another example of how we try to revitalize some traditional industries with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) technologies to create more value for people. industries in Era 5G. “

In addition to pig farming, Huawei wants to expand into the mining industry. The company’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, presented a mining laboratory earlier this month. Using Huawei technology, Ren wants to turn miners into white-collar workers, allowing them to wear a suit and tie to work. With the company’s technology, the mining industry will see “fewer workers, greater safety and greater efficiency”. The executive added that Huawei will continue to expand its television, tablet and computer lines. This is important because Ren does not see the US removing his company from the list of entities. Still, he says, “We can still survive even without relying on phone sales.” And even though the company is looking for new sources to generate revenue, it has not given up on the telephony business. Huawei is yet to launch its two flagship models this year, the P50 and Mate 50 lines. The company is expected to use its homemade HarmonyOS for both models.

Although Huawei may be losing market share in the smartphone market, it remains the largest supplier of network equipment in the world. Still, Huawei needs to be careful about how it proceeds. After all, it has long been said on Wall Street: “Bears make money, bulls make money and pigs are slaughtered”.

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