From personally leading the team to "hit the harbor" to meeting in the car field, Ren Zhengfei once again stood on the opposite side of Li Yinan. This time, will Li Yinan repeat the same mistakes? Or what kind of moves will be used to attack a city from Huawei's present?
Once "close as father and son", now almost "enemies see each other very red".
Tales of vengeance
There is a saying in the outside world that Ren Zhengfei deliberately chose Li Yinan as his successor in the past, but in fact, we can't delve into this, and naturally we can't distinguish between right and wrong. However, from some past information, we can still draw a conclusion that Ren Zhengfei is extremely important to Li Yinan.
The first label that the outside world labeled Li Yinan was the well-known "genius teenager" in the industry. Baidu founder and CEO Robin Li said in an internal email in 2008 that Li Yinan is a legend in China's IT industry.
At the age of 15, Li Yinan was admitted to the junior class of the former Huazhong University of Science and Technology. That year, Chinese workers selected 23 extraordinary teenagers from all over the country. According to the disclosed information, one of the criteria for Huagong to select students in the junior class is an IQ of about 130, that is, a very small minority of people who account for 2.2% of the total population.
With the aura of "genius teenager" overhead, Li Yinan joined Huawei as soon as he graduated, and since then, he has been smooth sailing and opening a rapid promotion path. He was promoted to Huawei engineer in two days, chief engineer in half a month, deputy general manager of the Central Research Department in half a year, and was promoted to Chief Engineer of Huawei/President of the Central Research Department two years later, and sat on the throne of Vice President of Huawei at the age of 27.
There is no doubt that Li Yinan's back is inseparable from the support of Ren Zhengfei. In the past two years, Huawei has opened a "genius teenager" training program due to the blockade, offering a million annual salaries, which also shows Huawei's preferential treatment of talents.
Li Yinan is obviously the most special one. At that time, the outside world called him "Huawei Prince".
It is worth mentioning that shenzhen Huawei integrated circuit design co., ltd., founded in 1998, has a total of 8 main personnel, of which Ren Zhengfei is rarely the legal representative, and the management includes Zheng Baoyong and Li Yinan.
Analogous to today's HiSilicon Semiconductor, is an important pillar for Huawei to achieve industry leadership, you can imagine that When Ren Zhengfei founded this company's original intention, Li Yinan, who was less than 30 years old, was valued by Ren Zhengfei.
Screenshot from Sky Eye Check
However, all these appreciations failed to retain Li Yinan.
Li Yinan finally chose to leave Huawei in 2000 and founded the harbor network, which was due to the flow of many versions in the industry, including: Ren Zhengfei transferred Li Yinan from the research and development department to the marketing department, which caused the dissatisfaction of the latter; Li Yinan had a disagreement with his predecessor Zheng Baoyong, Ren Zhengfei and Thin Mud...
Whether Li Yinan ran away in a negative mood, probably only he himself knew. However, the first venture pointed to Huawei's main target market - the enterprise-level data communication market, and then continued to poach Huawei's technology generals, which has laid the groundwork for the further rupture of the relationship between the two sides.
"Hitting the Harbor" is presumably a major event that stirred up thousands of waves in the industry in 2006. Under the background of the continuous erosion of the communication market share and the muddy waters of Western capital in the field of intellectual property rights, Ren Zhengfei launched the "hit the harbor" strategy. Harbor was gradually defeated and eventually taken over by Huawei.
Although Li Yinan was reappointed as Huawei's vice president, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a "prisoner of war".
The story after that will not be repeated here: Li Yinan joined Baidu, China Mobile 12580, and later GSR Ventures after the expiration of the acquisition contract. At this point, Ren Zhengfei and Li Yinan's enmity has almost come to an end.
Another round of car-building?
But since Li Yinan announced the construction of the car, he was destined to be pulled into the spotlight and subject to everyone's scrutiny. Because this is also the new battlefield for Huawei.
In fact, in April 2015, after the resignation of GSR Venture Capital, Li Yinan announced a new entrepreneurial project, the Maverick Electric Bicycle, and began the first attempt to build cross-border cars. On Double Eleven in the same year, the Maverick electric vehicle sold 3,000 vehicles, creating the record of the first sales in the same category, and at the same time, the cumulative sales of 44,000 vehicles since its release.
At the press conference, he said that "this will be the last business in his life." But soon he disappeared, like a Weibo that was no longer updated and had no record of likes.
According to news reports at the time, Li Yinan used his position to speculate in stocks during his tenure at GSR Venture Capital. A Shenzhen court convicted him of insider trading and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison and a fine of 7.5 million yuan. According to one of the documents of the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court (2017) Yue 03 Zhi 2617, on November 1, 2017, Li Yinan had voluntarily paid a fine of RMB7.5 million. In December of the same year, Li Yinan was freed again.
With a great change in the spirit of the past, Li Yinan has been particularly low-key since then, until December 15, 2021, when he personally created an energy platform for Niu.
In the intelligent electric vehicle industry, not only are traditional car companies and new car-making forces looking at each other, but more technology giants have entered the market, including Huawei.
There is a passage in the book "Genius on the Left, Madman on the Right", and the difference between a philosopher and a madman is that one is just thinking, and the other is really doing it. Times have passed, and Li Yinan, who has been isolated from the market for several years, still resolutely chooses the hottest competitive track, where there are also old owners and old rivals Huawei.
Since the release of the AITO Q&I M5 at the end of last year, Huawei has made every effort to create momentum for it, opening up sales channels in thousands of stores in China, and determined to sell 300,000 cars by the end of the year.
Therefore, some people question whether Li Yinan will repeat the same mistakes, be completely absorbed by Huawei and then lose his job. What is more concerned is whether Li Yinan can take back Yicheng in front of Ren Zhengfei this time.
After many years, Li Yinan announced to the media the English brand name of the entrepreneurial project "NIUTRON" and the brand name of the Chinese "Self-Traveler". Officials said that "Self-Traveling" focuses on the field of intelligent high-end new energy vehicles, the first product positioning medium and large SUVs, providing pure electricity and extended range two powertrain options, will be trial production in March 2022, mass production delivery in September of the same year.
This speed and Huawei are almost front and back feet. At a time when the energy market is in full swing, the second round of the confrontation between Li Yinan and Ren Zhengfei gradually begins.
Although the possibility of being re-incorporated is not ruled out, at least now there are countless opportunities in the new energy vehicle market, which is different from the original confrontation in the field of communications, and Huawei is also a newcomer in the automotive field. Huawei's emphasis on "no car" may create more opportunities for Li Yinan.
In the words of Li Yinan in 2015: No matter how many things you are disappointed in, there is no reason to be disappointed in the best of times. As for whether Ren Zhengfei can win the wrist, it all depends on the creation.