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SHENZHEN, China: Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei asked employees of his exit sub-brand Honor to strive to outperform its parent in a farewell speech as the tech giant sells the budget brand to keep its supply chains alive. hampered by sanctions.
Huawei Technologies said earlier this month that it would sell Honor to a new entity called Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, made up of its agents and distributors, so that it could resume sourcing components currently restricted by US sanctions.
The United States government says Huawei is a threat to national security, a claim the company denies.
“Wave after wave of severe US sanctions against Huawei has led us to finally understand that certain American politicians want to kill us, not just correct us,” Ren said, according to a speech posted on a Huawei employee forum on Thursday (Nov. 26). ). .
While Huawei could overcome the difficulties, “millions” of employees of Honor agents and distributors around the world would lose their jobs as sales channels were exhausted, Ren said in the speech.
“We don’t have to drag innocent people into the water just because we suffer,” he said.
Honor-brand smartphones made up 26 percent of the 51.7 million phones Huawei shipped in the July-September period, according to consulting firm Canalys. The company’s products also include laptops, tablets, smart TVs, and electronic accessories.
Huawei’s rivals have been increasing production orders, anticipating that they may eat up market share while the giant cannot produce new phones, several industry sources recently told Reuters.
If Honor could resume production, it could retain market share, said Flora Tang, an industry analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Ren called on Honor to become Huawei’s biggest competitor after the “divorce” and said that toppling Huawei should “become his motivational slogan.”
“We are your competitors going forward,” he said.
