Today, Huawei launched Huawei OpenLab 3.0 Asia-Pacific, which aims at new Singapore R&D operations to innovate new solutions for products needed in the Asia Pacific region with a new $20 million investment.

This will help Huawei and its partners to jointly collaborate and combine expertise and technologies to speed up digital transformation across various divisions and businesses.

Huawei OpenLab was officially launched in Singapore in 2016. To date, it has welcomed over 6000 industry visitors from the APAC region and forged collaborations with more than 100 partners to create customer-centric solutions.

Besides Singapore, Huawei has established OpenLabs in locations that include Suzhou, Munich, Istanbul, and Dubai, jointly developing and launching technologies and solutions with more than 400 partners worldwide.

Goh Pei Sheng, Vice President of Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) joined the opening ceremony. For your information, DISG is a platform of the Singapore government that engages with the technology sector. Over 60 partners and guests from the technology and public sectors, industry associations, and universities also attended the ceremony.

On the OpenLab 3.0 project, Huawei invested $20 million USD to upgrade research and development operations in Asia pacific. The new investment will help Huawei to collaborate with local partners to create customer-centric and innovative scenario-based solutions that truly meet regional needs.

Based on its considerable capabilities in wireless and optical networks, storage, cloud, and AI, Huawei has developed a range of integrated solutions like Smart Campus, Smart Classroom, and Smart City.

“Cloud OpenLab” a partner-oriented solution integration & verification platform on cloud architecture was also launched at the ceremony.

Collaborating with customers allows the solutions to be better tailored to meet needs through joint innovation. Collaboration often results in new ecosystems that deliver the digital transformation of public service, finance, transportation, energy, and many more industries.

During the event, two Huawei partners, Simon Chung, President of Global Business at Chinasoft International, and Jeffrey Yam, Director-Founder of Maxxmedia International, discussed their journey of collaboration with Huawei that resulted in incubating Smart Campus and Smart Classroom solutions.

“The booming digital economy in APAC will lead to new innovative services and applications. To accelerate the digital transformation of industries, a more open and diversified industry ecosystem is required”, said Mr. Nicholas Ma, President of Huawei APAC Enterprise Business Group. “OpenLab 3.0 is a global technology platform for local partners, customers, and institutions of higher learning in APAC. It explores joint solutions based on the demands of various industries and continuously contributes to building the Digital APAC.”

Mr. Jun Zhang, President of Huawei APAC Public Affairs and Communications said “Standing for Platforms, Innovation, Professionalism, Experience, and Skills, PIPES delivers targeted talent programs for individuals from all walks of life, to foster an inclusive talent ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region. OpenLab 3.0, a platform for innovation, experience and know-how sharing, exemplifies our talent-centric commitment, and is set to emerge as a pivotal hub for talent cultivation across the region.”

“OpenLab 1.0 to 2.0 have been looking at tomorrow from today’s perspective. OpenLab 3.0 is about cooperating with our partners to look at tomorrow from the day after tomorrow’s perspective and explore more possibilities in the future through our comprehensive innovative R&D capabilities and investment. Incubating and enabling more future-oriented local applications and innovative solutions, while promoting them to the entire Asia-Pacific region to support the digital transformation of various industries.” said Mr. Foo Fang Yong, CEO of Huawei International.

Huawei CFO and vice chairman, Meng Wanzhou is now the rotating chairman of the Chinese tech giant and she said that her personal case has come to an end.

During the Annual 2022 Huawei Business Report Conference, a reporter asked whether Meng Wanzhou will have to visit the U.S. regarding her past detention case. On that, the Huawei CFO replied that the Judge has ordered the police to withdraw the case along with personal charges.

She said Huawei has appeared in almost 170 countries around the world and Huawei employees can conduct business trips according to work and routines.

Story:

In December 2018, Huawei founder’s daughter and deputy chairwoman Meng Wanzhou was detained at Vancouver International Airport by Canada Border Services Agency officers.

Later on, she was arrested for a U.S. extradition request for allegations of fraud and conspiracy in circumventing U.S. sanctions on Iran. In the following year, the U.S. Department of Justice formally announced fraud charges against Ms. Meng.

The first stage of the extradition hearing began in January 2020 and concluded in May. It’s when the Canadian supreme court ordered kicked off the extradition process.

However, Ms. Meng’s lawyer made several serious allegations against the authorities involved in the detention process. The entire detention is unlawful and based on fabricated charges.

On September 24, 2021, the U.S. department of justice announced to make a deal with Meng Wanzhou to resolve the case through a deferred prosecution agreement. However, she was not charged with a fine or pleaded guilty to the allegations and charges.

In December last year, U.S. DOJ dismissed all charges against Meng before December 21, 2022.

Interestingly, it was a well-set case plot for Huawei CFO and all of the charges were resolved in an instant, which took at around 2 years to form. However, Meng Wanzhou is at her homeground and working for the company to lead it towards success.

Why Huawei is not launching 5G phones? The Huawei chief answered questions on this matter, saying that the company awaits a U.S. supply license to bring 5G phones.

Xu Zhijun said that Huawei is waiting for the U.S. department of commerce’s license to get 5G technologies for new phones and launch them among consumers.

Entity List:

Back in 2019, Huawei was enlisted in the U.S. commerce department blacklist. Since then, the company cannot buy new technologies for its smartphones such as chips and Google services. Huawei also lost access to its own Kirin chipsets, as the TSMC also denied printing new ones.

That’s why, the lack of 5G RF and chip components barred the company from producing 5G phones. This forced Huawei to build only 4G devices. Its recent flagships including P60 and Mate X3 also come with only 4G access.

Xu Zhijun says that the smartphone business is mostly affected by the U.S. sanctions and it caused a massive drop in Huawei’s smartphone market share. With current access to 4G chips, Huuawei can only make 4G smartphones, he mentioned.

4G:

Despite these questions, Xu confidently said that there are people who are willing to still buy a 4G phone. As Huawei has greatly improved its camera, foldable screen, and other parts of its devices.

To cover up, Huawei’s latest flaghip is opened with big demand in China, and Huawei pre-selling a good amount of units ahead of an official sale. Without 5G, Huawei phones are focusing on other aspects of user experience such as build quality and better software features.

Last year, Xu Zhijun stressed that 5G is a big issue for Huawei devices but the company will not give up on its mobile business. At that time, Mr. Xu also expected a recovery from this loss may take several years.