Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday said that it would launch a long-awaited new operating system for smartphones next week, part of an all-out push into the software industry aimed at overcoming US sanctions and taking on Google’s Android.
Huawei tipped the launch of its HarmonyOS platform, set for Wednesday next week, in a short teaser on social media, just as an internal memo came to light in which company founder and chief executive officer Ren Zhengfei (任正非) outlined plans to go big in software.
The 76-year-old assured staff that “in the software domain, the US will have very little control over our future development, and we have much autonomy.”
Photo: Reuters
Huawei’s plans are the latest signs of a radical transformation at the Shenzhen-based company, which is moving quickly into new product lines seen as less vulnerable to US pressure and a re-focus on its core domestic market.
Analysts warn that creating a successful new mobile operating system is exceedingly difficult in a world where Android and iOS are firmly entrenched, and the launch will be watched closely by the tech world.
Huawei gave no further details on the launch other than the timing.
A move into software is prudent for Huawei, which remains years away from developing chips needed for its own devices, IRT Corp chief analyst Marc Einstein said in Tokyo.
The timing is also good because the advent of 5G networks in years to come would radically change the tech landscape, offering major new opportunities in artificial intelligence, wired “smart cities,” intelligent vehicles and other tech spheres.
“Some of these things are still very, very early days and there’s no real gorilla in the market yet,” Einstein said. “So it does make sense to go in this direction.”
Einstein said that while Huawei’s size and expertise would make it formidable, success is not assured.
It would need to compete against domestic tech giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and Baidu Inc (百度), which have all pushed into software and cloud computing, and the US-imposed hurdles overseas could curb its appeal in foreign markets, he said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
A former ASML Holding NV employee is facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands over suspected theft of trade secrets, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said, in the latest breach of the maker of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment. The 43-year-old Russian engineer, who is suspected of stealing documents such as microchip manuals from ASML, is expected to appear at a court in Rotterdam today, NOS reported on Friday. He is accused of multiple violations of the sanctions legislation and has been given a 20-year entry ban by the Dutch government, the report said. The Dutch company makes machines needed to produce high-end chips that power
As South Korea descends into political chaos, its equity market risks falling further behind major tech rival Taiwan, which is basking in the glory of a global artificial intelligence (AI) boom. A near-30 percent surge in Taiwan’s stock benchmark this year, set to be the best since 2009, has already helped spur a historic divergence between Asia’s two tech-dominated markets. The nation’s market capitalization now exceeds South Korea’s by about US$950 billion as the world’s AI frontrunners from Nvidia Corp and Microsoft Corp to OpenAI all increasingly turn to Taiwanese firms for supply. Looking ahead to next year, while both export-oriented economies
RSS