The U.S. had backed Huawei into a corner with trade sanctions after sanctions, which only fueled the drive from the former Chinese smartphone giant to initiate a comeback of epic proportions. While it continues to take baby steps to reduce reliance on technology from overseas firms, a rare incident has happened involving one of China’s leading computer scientists, who believes that Huawei’s business model is monopolistic, which is the incorrect approach if the region wants to beat the U.S. from a technological standpoint.
Huawei is predicted to eventually take over everything, which does not guarantee a victory over the U.S.
A video posted on the Chinese platform bilibili that was spotted by the South China Morning Post showed Sun Ninghui, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and President of the China Computer Federation, taking jab at Huawei, saying that the company had become too ‘closed.’ He also believes that Huawei will take over the local industry but at the cost of losing to the U.S. in the technology race.
“From chip manufacturing to software to large AI model to computing power network, it’s best for everyone else not to participate, and [Huawei] will take over everything. I think we are using this kind of Chinese-style closure and monopoly to fight Western-style monopoly and containment, which we certainly can’t win.”
The China Computer Federation is the largest community of computer scientists in the country, with Sun focusing on architecture and high-performance computing at the High Performance Computer Research Centre at the Institute of Computing Technology at CAS. While giving a lecture on AI in April, Sun recommended China’s top governing bodies to reduce dependency on the U.S. by coming up with its own innovations and diversifying its supply chain.
An expert who preferred to remain anonymous shares Sun’s opinion, believing that the dominance of just one company would not build a healthy innovation ecosystem. He used Samsung as an example, stating that South Korea’s technological prowess has been stunted because the company rules the market with an iron fist. He also believes that Huawei receives preferential treatment than other firms when competing for government orders, which will stifle competition if there is no control.
However, a founder at a Chinese venture capital firm has downplayed Sun’s concerns, saying that the problem is not as serious as the computer scientist is portraying it to be. The unnamed individual says that China’s current priority is to innovate at the ‘most acute choke points,’ which is something only a few technology behemoths can accomplish due to their vast monetary resources. Once these breakthroughs are made, then the focus can shift towards the monopolistic business models of Huawei.
News Source: South China Morning Post
