China's leading tech firm, Huawei, remains in the United States' Entity List but it posted 30 percent in growth during the first half of 2019. Its founder, Ren Zhengfei, said in an interview on Wednesday that the company is moving forward amid all the setbacks.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance, Ren admitted that Huawei was not "fully prepared" for the White House ban, which is why the company "faced some pressure." On the other hand, Ren noted that the tech equipment firm found something worth everything it went through since it was banned in the U.S. on May.
Yahoo's translation of Ren's statements read: "We found that we are fully capable of shaking off our reliance on the U.S. for our cored products and depending on ourselves to survive."
Industry analysts noted earlier this week that indeed, Huawei's story is the perfect example of grace under pressure. The company grew 30 percent in H1 2019, considering that it faced uncertainties all throughout June.
Ren further explained that as part of the efforts in curbing the U.S. ban's pains, the company had to "cut" several products that could not function without American components. It is unclear just how many products had to be cut off from the official product list.
At the moment, there are over 80,000 workers with the task of "working hard to fix" the company's developmental "holes," Ren revealed. The Chinese business mogul confidently said that so far, the company has "made pretty good progress."
Aside from giving an update on how Huawei has been dealing with the U.S. blacklisting, Ren tapped on the issue regarding 5G during the interview. He said the U.S. appears to be "abandoning" this high-end technology.
For Ren, the United States may fall behind in 5G network development since it does not have super-fast connections that are necessary for pursuing this particular tech. He further dropped a serious comment regarding the White House decision of dropping Huawei, noting that the blacklisting is the beginning of "the U.S. falling behind" in 5G.
Huawei posted an unexpected 30 percent in revenue for the first half of this year, despite fears that the company is starting to fall apart after the U.S. ban. After the earnings report was released, industry analysts noted that the company may further post bigger figures if the row with Washington is resolved soon.
The Chinese government has requested that the White House lift restrictions on Huawei. It remains to be seen if the meeting between the Chinese and U.S. delegations will help restore the company's business dealings with American tech suppliers.
