Try Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei to tackle the mountains of difficulties facing Chinese AI and his company. You’ll get an amazing answer.
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” says Len in a Q&A with Chinese media outlet People’s Daily. “It’s useless to think about it.”
In a world obsessed with five years of planning and crisis management, his advice is almost unpleasant with its simplicity. “Don’t think about the difficulties. Do that and move on in stages.”
This is more than just a personal mantra. This is a blueprint for how Huawei is navigating the storm of international sanctions and lockdowns. It is a quiet resolve to ripple all his answers.
As the conversation moves to Huawei’s advanced rising AI chip, he is almost cruelly honest. He isn’t bragging. In fact, he believes that hype is ahead of reality.
“The US is exaggerating Howay’s achievements. Howay is not that great yet,” he admits, saying their best tips are still in generations.
So what do you do when you can’t buy the best tools? According to Ren, you will become smarter with what you have. He explains that Huawei leaned against the brilliance of software and mathematics to fill the hardware gaps in AI and beyond.
“We use mathematics to supplement physics,” he says, explaining strategies to use code and link chips in strong clusters to achieve the best competitive results. Ingenuity born from necessity.
This grounded perspective applies to people as well as products. In an era of merciless corporate promotions, Len is wary of the spotlight. “We are also under a lot of pressure when people praise us,” he reveals. “When people criticize us, we get more calm.”
He sees criticism that Huawei is not as an attack, but as a gift from people who are actually using the product. It is a sign of a healthy relationship. His focus remains unshakable. “Don’t worry about praise or criticism.
But the true heart of Len’s vision, the idea of truly animating him, lies in basic scientific research, much deeper, slower than the next product cycle. He speaks about it with the passion of a philosopher and claims it is the soul of progress.
“If you don’t do basic research, you don’t have roots,” he warns. “Even if the leaves are lush and flourishing, they fall when the wind blows.”
For Huawei, these are more than just poetic words. They are supported by huge investments. Of the 180 billion yuan (approximately $25 billion) annual R&D budget, a third of that – 60 billion yuan (~$8.34 billion) – is devoted to theoretical research. This is a long-term bet on the money spent without expecting immediate return, the power of human curiosity. It’s an investment in a future that could be decades away.
Looking at its future, Ren sees AI as a monumental change not only for Huawei but for humanity. He believes that China is suitable for this new era, not just for this new era, but for its strong infrastructure and most importantly for its people.
Ren imagines a future in which a true breakthrough in AI comes from not only tech giants like Huawei, but also from experts in all fields (doctors, engineers, and even miners) to solve real-world problems using AI.
His optimism is contagious. He recalls the manipulation of New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman’s departure from China and published an article earlier this year, with a title that doesn’t require further explanation: “I just saw the future. It wasn’t America.”
Len Zhengfei appears to be a leader who has found a sense of calm in the eyes of the storm. His focus is not on the changing political winds, but on a slow and steady job of building something deep-rooted in preparation for what the future holds. Steps for each patient step.
(Image credit: European Union under CC with 4.0 license.
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