You could forgive the average member of the public if they hadn’t heard of Huawei before. The Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment maker has recently moved into smartphone making and enterprise-cloud flogging, and despite being the third largest smartphone seller in the world, the name Huawei still leaves a lot of people thinking Hu-are-they?
Here are 10 facts about the Chinese giant to make you look like a pro and impress your tech friends.
Founder Ren Zhengfei was 42 when he started Huawei, so you may still have time for entrepreneurial success if you’re currently in a mid-life crisis.
Photo: cellanr
Huawei’s VP of the consumer business group, Shao Yang, told CBR that he thinks Apple’s iPhone ‘is the best phone in the world.’
Employees at the Shenzen campus get lunch from 12-1.30, and can have mattresses under their desks for an afternoon siesta if need be.
Huawei roughly translates as ‘splendid achievement for China’, or ‘action for China’.
Although you may have only heard of the firm in the last couple of years, Huawei actually won a contract in the UK with BT in 2005 for the 21st Century superfast broadband rollout.
It’s is the third largest shipper of smartphones in the world, behind Apple and Samsung.
The 50,000 staff on the Shenzen campus get fed by eight canteens, catering for all kinds of dietary requirements.
The R&D centre on the Shenzen campus is known as The White House because of its familiar white facade.
Every year, about 10% of Huawei’s revenue gets pushed back into R&D.
Founder Ren owns a modest 1.4% stake in Huawei, but is still the 556th richest person in China.
