COVID-19 closed many doors, but innovation offers a window of hope: Huawei’s Deputy Chairman

At the opening ceremony of Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2021, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman Ken Hu spoke about the huge impact that COVID-19 has had on countries, enterprises, and people around the world, as well as the role technology plays in combatting the pandemic.

COVID-19 has created many new requirements for digital infrastructure. Andover the past year, Huawei has worked closely with carriers to ensure the stable operations of more than 300 networks across 170 countries. In Indonesia, Huawei employed a new digital delivery technology to rapidly deploy over 50,000 base stations. In Ningxia, China, Huawei’s integrated routers enable multi-cloud access for enterprise users, helping them move to the cloud more rapidly – and at a lower cost.

Huawei predicts that, by 2025, 97% of all large companies will use AI. Other estimates for 2025 include that 55% of China’s entire GDP will be driven by the digital economy, and 60% of global carrier revenue will be derived from industry customers. Hu noted that to achieve these projections, “all industries should focus on improving their capabilities, building out the ecosystem, and creating value with digital technology.”

As an ICT infrastructure provider, Huawei has been focusing heavily on 5G innovation to help drive the digital transformation of all industries. Hu noted that Huawei’s innovation is focused on three areas: technology, products, and applications. In technology, Huawei’s new 5G Super Uplink solution delivers unmatched uplink speeds, helping companies break through a major bottleneck in the industrial Internet.
In the products area, Huawei’s fully converged 5G edge computing products have sped up the deployment of edge computing sites by a factor of 10. In applications, Huawei’s Wireless X Labs incubates 5G applications with partners across a wide range of domains like manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and transportation. With these partners, Huawei is exploring how 5G can help different industries go digital more effectively.

Huawei is also working closely with customers and partners to drive innovation in 5G. The company is currently working with ecosystem partners to develop devices targeted at meeting specific industry needs. Huawei aims to drive 1 to N expansion of 5G applications for business through joint innovation and strategic partnerships with its customers. The company is also working to coordinate 5G communication and industry standards to scale up 5GtoB applications more rapidly.

Hu reported that, in collaboration with its partners and regional carriers, Huawei has signed more than 1,000 contracts for industrial 5G applications in more than 20 industries.

While pivoting to address the pandemic, Hu warned that the world faces a real risk of K-shaped economic recovery once COVID-19 is brought under control. He predicts an increasingly wide divide between organizations and people who actively benefit from digital technology and those who do not. In order to avoid unbalanced development, bridge the digital divide, and promote inclusive growth, Hu emphasized that the focus of innovation needs to shift to producing greater social value.

MWC Shanghai 2021 runs from February 23 to February 25 in Shanghai, China. Huawei’s products and solutions can be found at booth E10, E50, and E90 in Hall N1 in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). For more information, please visit https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwcs2021.