- Hit by US sanctions, Huawei ventures into pig farming as sales fall.
- Huawei looking at other sources of revenue
- UK bans Huawei from accessing 5G.
Chinese tech giant, Huawei has switched attention to tech inventions for pig farmers in response to limping smartphone sales.
Huawei’s smartphone arm received a huge blow after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the firm in 2020, labeling it a threat to national security.
The sanctions restrict the tech powerhouse from acquiring vital components from the United States, 5G network infrastructure (limiting their models to 3G and 4G), and Google Android.
To make matters worse for the Chinese tech giant, India, Vietnam, and Uk have also sanctioned Huawei from the 5G network resulting in a sharp decrease in sales. Sales are expected to continue plunging as The UK is also pushing other EU countries to follow suit and sanction Huawei.
Huawei smartphone sales plummet 41% in the fourth quarter of 2020 as the sanctions bite. They were number 3 in the smartphone business in terms of shipments behind Apple and Samsung by the end of the second quarter of 2020.
Now Huawei appears to be hunting for alternative sources of income to finance their operations.
They are reportedly working on artificial intelligence (AI) tech that could help pig farmers identify individual pigs, detect diseases, and track vitals including weight and diet.
China has the world’s biggest pig-farming industries, home to half of the world’s hogs and the tech giant could benefit massively from this new venture.
“The pig farming is yet another example of how we try to revitalize some traditional industries with ICT (Information and Communications Technology) technologies to create more value for the industries in the 5G era,” said Huawei spokesman Benjamin Howes
Earlier this month, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zvengfel also launched an intelligent mining innovation lab in Taiyuan.
Huawei wants to develop technology for coal mines that will lead to “fewer workers, greater safety, and higher efficiency” and enable coal miners to “wear suits and ties” at work.
During a round-table meeting at the event, Mr. Ren said the company was also expanding into consumer products such as televisions, computers, and tablets.
“We can still survive even without relying on phone sales,” Mr. Ren said, adding that it is very unlikely the US will remove Huawei from a blacklist that bars companies from working with the Chinese tech firm
