Ren Zhengfei: When there is a global chip surplus in the future, people will be begging to buy chips

 On February 9, Xinsheng Community released the minutes of founder Ren Zhengfei's interview with the media after the unveiling ceremony of the Taiyuan Intelligent Mining Innovation Laboratory.

In response to Reuters' question, "After the Honor business was spun off, it gained further success because it obtained chip supply. Is Huawei considering, or has it considered, spinning off other businesses or product lines?" Ren Zhengfei said:

The divestiture of Honor is for upstream suppliers and downstream channel dealers. If they do not purchase parts from upstream suppliers, suppliers in various countries will be harmed; if they do not supply products to downstream channels, the channels will dry up, affecting a large number of jobs. Therefore, the divestiture of Honor is an action taken under the pressure of the environment.

After the spin-off, Huawei does not have a penny of Honor stock. The larger their production scale, the more it squeezes the living space of Huawei mobile phones, but we must understand the needs of suppliers, distributors and users. We should restrain ourselves and follow the trend.

In response to CNBC's question "Regarding the chip issue, you just mentioned that Huawei's mobile phone business cannot obtain chip supply. What actions is Huawei taking now? Is it preparing to invest in or acquire chip companies? Now Huawei cannot obtain chip supply from TSMC, so what is the alternative? Will it buy chips for high-end mobile phones from MediaTek? Will Huawei continue to retain its high-end mobile phone business in the future? Or will it consider selling it like Honor?" Ren Zhengfei said:

First, the US government should think more about the US chip industry. The US attaches great importance to chips, Europe and Japan will also attach great importance to chips. Just like real estate, the world will be in an era of chip surplus in the future. We cannot invest in the chip industry, which is an industry that turns sand into electronics. Our ability is mathematics, so we have to rely on globalization to solve it. In any case, we will not give up the ideal of globalization. No matter how sanctions and blockades are imposed, we will stick to the path of globalization. In the future, when there is a global chip surplus, I think someone will beg us to buy chips.
Second, we should not understand terminals as only mobile phones. Anything that connects with people and things is called a terminal. For example, laser radar, ultrasonic radar, Doppler radar used for unmanned driving of cars, gas meters, water meters, televisions, security systems used in homes... are all terminals, and mobile phones are only part of the terminal. Therefore, Huawei can transfer 5G technology in the future, but will never sell terminal business again.