Huawei seeking to enhance SOE ties

Meng Wanzhou, who is scheduled to serve as rotating chairperson of Huawei Technologies Co beginning April 1, has made frequent recent appearances to boost cooperation with State-owned enterprises.

Meng, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, visited China National Building Material Group Co Ltd, the world's largest manufacturer of building materials, and China Huaneng Group Co Ltd, a major domestic power company, this week.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Huawei held its first launch event of the Year of the Rabbit for its storage network product, as the company works to find more growth engines amid US government restrictions.

Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Information Consumption Alliance, a telecom industry association, said Huawei is working hard to expand the application of its digital technologies and solutions in a wide range of traditional industries by boosting partnerships with big companies, as its consumer business, such as smartphones, faces challenges due to the restrictions.

On Tuesday, Huawei inked a strategic cooperation agreement with China National Building Material Group in Beijing in the presence of Meng and Zhou Yuxian, chairman of the latter.

Under the deal, the two sides will work closely in new material research and development, digitalization, green and low-carbon technologies and internationalization to promote the high-quality development of both parties.

The same day, Meng also led a team to visit China Huaneng Group and met its chairman, Wen Shugang.

Meng said Huawei insists on increasing its investment in R&D, and expects Huaneng to "pose more questions" for Huawei to answer. Through joint laboratory and other research projects, the two sides will work together to explore solutions that combine digital technology and the coal industry.

Meng said she hopes the companies will continue to deepen cooperation in digital, coal, new energy and other fields, according to a news release from Huaneng.

Huawei has established a string of dedicated teams to help accelerate digital transformation in sectors like coal, highways, ports, photovoltaic power and data centers.

Despite progress in the above aspects, Huawei is now facing added pressure from the US government restrictions. Foreign media reported that Washington is considering halting licenses for US companies seeking to export products to Huawei.

In response to such reports, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that China has always opposed the United States' practice of overgeneralizing the concept of national security to impose unjustifiable sanctions on Chinese enterprises.

Shu Jueting, a ministry spokeswoman, said such practices violate the principles of market economics and international economic and trade rules.

"China will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," Shu said.

Huawei ranked seventh in 2022 among the top 10 global semiconductor buyers, but its chip spending went down by 19.4 percent year-on-year last year, according to preliminary data from market research company Gartner.