Huawei to focus on R&D to meet UAE demand
Huawei, a leading global provider of communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, aims to continue its success in the UAE by focusing on Research and Development (R&D), among other things, according to Mei Xin Li, deputy chief of communications and public relations.
Huawei is giving R&D a priority and allocating a considerable chunk of its revenues in that area. “First, the basic platform is R&D,” Li said, responding to a question on the company’s strategy to increase business in the UAE. “Next focus [will be] on carriers’ businesses, consumers and enterprises,” he said, speaking to a group of media representatives from the UAE visiting Huawei’s executive offices in Beijing.
Nearly 80,000 employees were engaged in R&D, and they comprise 45 per cent of the workforce, according to the company’s 2017 annual report.
Huawei’s R&D expenditure totalled 89.7 billion yuan (nearly Dh49.4 billion), which is nearly 14.9 per cent of the company’s revenue. Huawei “staff are working hard to do their best (for development), because we are serving 170 countries”, he said.
Last year, the company shipped 153 million smartphones, and its global brand awareness has increased to 86 per cent. The number of consumers considering buying a Huawei device in non-Chinese markets saw a year-on-year increase of 100 per cent, which put Huawei among the top three global vendors in this category for the first time,” according to the report.
Commenting on the company’s strategy in the UAE market, Li said the company will build on the already existing “good reputation” and continue to gain the trust of its partners and the UAE’s two carriers, Etisalat and du.”